MMOs as RPGs

[bloodsorrow]

Don't get me wrong. I've never encountered an MMO that I consider a true RPG. And I don't entirely understand why--when I think of the MUDs and combat-heavy 3.5 dungeon crawls I used to play, and compare it to an MMO that offers quests to complete, levels to gain, skill trees to fill out, and trash mobs to slaughter, they seem familiar enough. But

Comments

[kyn_elwynn]

An RPG allows players to come from any and all walks of life and even more importantly, take positions of power and importance. Don't like the mayor/cheftain/galactic senator? Kill him and find a replacement. An MMO is a static world full of NPCs that offer players rewards for doing tasks (y'know, quests). While some MMOs offer the idea of phasing to change out NPCs based on conditions, often these conditions are reversible to return to a status quo. It's not so easy to make a game, hosted on a company's servers, that allows the -players- to shape the game world itself. As fun as that might be, there's not money to be had in that way.

[bloodsorrow]

I definitely see that. Programming a dynamic world that adjusts to player actions seems like a pretty monumental task. But I keep thinking about the same three things: 1. I know some sandbox things allow for players to own and develop plots of land (usually houses), or have player crafting to an extent that it runs a realistic economy. 2. I know some faction-based MMO's allow for 'victors'--after some period fo time, which ever faction has the best PVP record gets benefits and privileges (but what they are, I don't fully know) for the next time period. 3. And a lot of games have frequent world events happen. Something big in-game happens, players get to interact with it for a few weeks, then it goes away.

Nothing for a long time will compare to the openness of a DM-run homebrew game, but I feel like those 3 things combined could be pretty cool?

[trooper6]

There will never be an MMO, or even a computer RPG, that is really like a table top game. That just isn't feasible considering the techological limitations of the medium.

That said you might want to try out A Tale in the Desert--which is Mac/PC/Linux compatible. You can download it from their web site. There is no fighting is it all, rather just crafting and trading and building the world together. Society starts as nothing and the people come together to create it. There is also a lot of player governance. It also goes in cycles. The cycle starts with no civilization and the people then create it trying to again a world goal (which if they succeed means they get to create some challenges for the next generation). Once the endgame is reached, the world is destroyed and it all starts again from scratch (though the challenged from the previous telling remain out there). They are currenly in the 6th Telling, I believe.

Again, not a table top RPG--and certainly nothing like dungeon crawl murder hobo D&D, but you could check it out.

[sorceror]

Never? I wouldn't be so sure... Technology is getting more amazing by the day, and gaming is something that a lot of people put a lot of effort into. See what happens in the next ten years, or even just five...

[tcpip]

Programming a dynamic world that adjusts to player actions seems like a pretty monumental task.

That is the crux of the problem; and it's an interesting programming challenge as well. It is plausible to have some form of self-modifying code apply to NPCs, but that would be extremely difficult when you're dealing with a world of hundreds and thousands of NPCs.