So since I brought up the topic of psychology I think I need to ask myself what exactly do I want the players to do in my game and what will motivate them to do it. I think the obvious one is that I am hoping that players will participate in the ultimate goal of area domination and/or whatever winning conditions for a round are. As a part of achieving that goal there will be the actions of freezing enemy players, collecting raw materials, processing raw materials into gear and useful game objects, and defending bases against enemy attacks. I don't particularly care for short rounds like the 30 minute skirmishes usually found in FPS games. Rather I would prefer that even if only one faction was working hard at it unhindered that winning conditions could not be met within the course of a month. That way there will be longer to plan out strategy and provide a complexity not found in most games. I want players to work as teams and communicate well. I do want to encourage specialization in various aspects of the game, like someone who is particularly good at scouting out the enemy or someone who is an expert at navigating the cave systems.
I don't want players to do anything that could be considered rude, lewd, crude, racist, and pretty much anything else that could be considered offensive in any way. This will mean that there will be strict rules and policing that will have to happen, especially for players who decide to build something that is inappropriate. I don't want players to destroy anything that will help their faction or to do anything that will hinder their factions in any way, like spying for the enemy or sabotaging a base by putting blocks in the space where a structure should go. I also don't want players to become addicted to the point where they are neglecting the other aspects of their lives. I want players to be useful and productive members of society, both in game and in real life. Preferably I would like the game to be enjoyable enough that someone will willingly come back to it over and over again, but not feel like if they don't play they will get left behind. To this end I have decided not to have leveling at all. Everyone will be able to do everything from the beginning, though they will have to be playing the right class to do certain things still. In this way if someone doesn't play for a time then they can come right back to the game as though nothing has changed.
I really, REALLY like the idea of dropping the whole leveling scheme. This could really work out well. I think back to Goldeneye 64 and Perfect Dark. Those games had no leveling, and each match was interesting, fun and exciting.
ReplyDeleteI would, however, suggest that you rethink trying to prevent things like spying, defecting, etc. Those things (sabotage, espionage, internal corruption) are a major part of all conflicts, and should neither be encouraged nor prevented.
The rest of the policing (for inappropriate structures, for example) sounds wonderful, and certainly any team member who is found to be committing espionage for the opposing team should have some form of punishment brought upon him (just as any soldier would in real life), but attempting to put some mechanic into the game itself that prevents such things would be too difficult and it wouldn't make the game any more fun.
Just a thought.
I guess I'm mostly afraid of people quitting the game and giving their account to a friend so they can log in to another faction to see what's going on. I think your right though in that it is very difficult to detect and would present a big headache to try to fight. I suppose that I might have to get creative on how information is passed along. For example people can only get mission information from communication structures in the field. In playing Ace of Spades one of the things I hated the most was when I was building something to protect the intel (flag in capture the flag) and one of my teammates decided to destroy it while I am powerless to do anything about it. I do not want that dynamic in this game to be sure. So I am thinking that friendly players simply will not be able to destroy a structure unless it has been marked for removal by a commander. Still not sure about walls since you may have those jokers who build around an afk teammate.
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