I like it. The argument that everyone will be mosters is not valid. Not
everyone will be a monster just like not everyone will be a griefer. The
lack of control over what monster you get to be will keep people from
taking
dragons all the time. It would make the monsters far more interesting to
fight overall and will ocmbat boredom with the game for everyone when a
roving monster will attack a town or city. Very nice!
"Jaffo" <jaffo4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:fl8q205gns4gjs5fb3jh0l0daghrdn7et7@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I was in the first batch of people who joined Ultima Online, in the
> days before PVP servers. I was PKd a thousand times on my way to
> Great Lord, and I've been trying to figure out a way to compensate for
> the some of the inherent weaknesses in this genre.
>
> I've got a wacky idea and I'm curious to see if you guys (who have
> played way more than me by now) think it will work.
>
> I want to combine the thrill of PVP with some of the lessons learned
> from DAOC and UO.
>
> These games suffer from several major challenges:
>
> 1. Griefers who crowd out legitimate PVP enthusiasts by abusing the
> system.
>
> 2. Newbies who create thowaway Player Killers to combat boredom.
>
> 3. The servers are always crowded.
>
> 4. Players can never find enough monsters.
>
> My biggest problem with PVP was not the combat itself, but the fact
> that I had no real chance to survive against a surprise attack.
> Griefers would fine-tune their characters for first strike capability,
> jacking up stats and abusing the system so by the time you knew you
> were getting hit, you were already dead.
>
> I loved dueling with my guildmates, in an environment where I knew I
> wasn't going to lose my stuff.
>
> So here's the pitch. What if we let people play monsters?
>
> 1. Monster selection would be random, so you couldn't pick your
> strengths and weaknesses beforehand.
>
> 2. The power level of the monster would be determined by the average
> level of all your characters.
>
> 3. People playing monsters can not speak to player characters,
> although they can coordinate with each other.
>
> 4. Monsters cannot loot corpses or acquire treasure.
>
> 5. Experience gained by the monsters would be divded equally among
> all your characters.
>
> 6. When the monster you are playing dies, you can respawn with a
> different monster and take your chances on what you get and where you
> start.
>
> 7. Monsters cannot hurt each other, and are not attacked by other
> monsters.
>
> I see a couple advantages to this. This way, instead of players
> standing around waiting for a limited number of spawns, they can play
> as monsters and provide their own entertainment.
>
> You can enjoy PVP without risking your own character.
>
> Players can enjoy the thrill of fighting against intelligent opponents
> without worrying about lopsided conflicts and instant death.
>
> Suicidal goobers who want to fight can do it within the context of the
> game.
>
> People with limited play time can play a monster during their lunch
> hour without worrying about the fate of their primary character.
>
> Gangs of monsters could still ambush newbies, but their stats would be
> determined by the system, making them approximately as dangerous as a
> normally spawned group.
>
> The start locations would be random each time, so even if you wanted
> to stalk a particular person or feed encounters to a particular
> friend, you would have to cross the world to do so.
>
> I welcome comments from all interested parties. Would this work?
>
>
> --
> On Larry King Live, Marlon Brando made the shocking statement that
> Hollywood is "run by Jews." In response, outraged Jewish groups made it
> snow in New York in April.
>
> http://www.michaelduff.net
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