offline characters

[Faille]

Probably my biggest peave with most mmos is there isn't much in the way of lasting effects or real interaction with the world. They are all very static, without much life to them. The obvious exception is Eve, but that game isn't for everyone and it's system probably isn't as applicable to other genres.


My initial thought was to have a game where people wouldn't so much as play characters as control their behavior, and it would be more like a sims type game. I then realized how ghey that might be. I then thought of just combining it with normal playing characters and have the AI controlled behavior type game take place when people are offline. Their characters would then become part of the population. You could then buy things like farms that your character would work while you were offline and earn an income stream.

I'm a big fan of player income being somewhat passive to offset the impact that gold farmers have. Better income should come from smarter play not from more time imo, though how to implement that is still a tricky prospect.

Would be nice for people to be able to offer jobs to other offline players. Creating that sort of inter dependence would be a good way to build up a political system of some sort.

[r.gun]

I like the idea of having and AI take over your character when you're gone and just implementing you into the city/rural life. That would add a whole other dimension to the game - hell, put it one step further and allow people to set up their own quest(s) (chains). Type some dialog in, with a selected reward and if someone clicks on you they can go on your AI quest. That would be kinda sweet.

[hasublood]

Originally Posted by r.gun

I like the idea of having and AI take over your character when you're gone and just implementing you into the city/rural life. That would add a whole other dimension to the game - hell, put it one step further and allow people to set up their own quest(s) (chains). Type some dialog in, with a selected reward and if someone clicks on you they can go on your AI quest. That would be kinda sweet.

I think the key here really is influencing offline behaviour by online actions, but the problem is how complex the game needs to become to seperate the average from the good from the great.

It's rather interesting to see how Eve attempted to solve this - naturally, this resulted in even some European and American players becoming farmers (I've spent a few years inside IGE among others) simply by becoming decent players and managing a ton of accounts (as opposed to focusing on 3-4, as manual WoW farmers do).

Thus, I feel that the economy itself should follow the model of traditional MMO's, and rather give character specific benefits from offline behaviour (ie you get a nicer garden if you collect seeds and buy gardening books or get training from a player Master Gardener).

The fact that you now have a lovely garden means you can get happiness bonuses allowing higher (temporary) skill in diplomacy, or you can get better long-term recovery by planting genetically modified herbs (product only works on you).

[Linbog]

I absolutely agree with the offline advancement idea however sometimes it feels as though the 'rested xp' mechanic bypasses content even if the intent is to catch up players with less time to be able to interact with players who play more.

I think offline resource gathering or production/crafting might be another solution in a more equipment based or possibly skill based game.

[Zarcath]

Something I'd like to be able to do is translate my MMO characters to a console environment. Say if Blizzard were to develop a console RPG along the lines of Baldur's Gate. I'd like to be able to either enter a code or import a copy of my WoW character into the game and be able to have all my gear/equipment. Same look, adjusted stats to match game values.