I remember the backlash before S.6 , when one Stephen D'Angelo came out and said that there will be one (possibly 2) FE's that year .
Ppl were angry . Ppl didn't understand .
What they failed to understand was that FE's were the latest casualty .
First PVP fell , then STF's fell , and then FE's (as we knew them) fell .
What we got instead were "adventure zones" , and standing still , walking backwards (not S.8) , walking sideways (S.7) and Reputations .
Anything but forward motion . Anything but momentum .
Introducing a "new enemy" of the month matters little to none if you don't care about the enemy , or if that enemy has zero impact on the story progression .
Who cares about the "Elachi" ?
You may like their ships , but who cares about them , the Elachi themselves ?
Forward motion in STO has been stagnating since it's second year .
That's a long time to wait for something to happen to move us forward .
I remember the backlash before S.6 , when one Stephen D'Angelo came out and said that there will be one (possibly 2) FE's that year .
Ppl were angry . Ppl didn't understand .
What they failed to understand was that FE's were the latest casualty .
First PVP fell , then STF's fell , and then FE's (as we knew them) fell .
What we got instead were "adventure zones" , and standing still , walking backwards (not S.8) , walking sideways (S.7) and Reputations .
Anything but forward motion . Anything but momentum .
Introducing a "new enemy" of the month matters little to none if you don't care about the enemy , or if that enemy has zero impact on the story progression .
Who cares about the "Elachi" ?
You may like their ships , but who cares about them , the Elachi themselves ?
Forward motion in STO has been stagnating since it's second year .
That's a long time to wait for something to happen to move us forward .
imo i dont think this game is going to be any thing more then rep grinds fleet base grinds and adventure zones grinds
I remember the backlash before S.6 , when one Stephen D'Angelo came out and said that there will be one (possibly 2) FE's that year .
Ppl were angry . Ppl didn't understand .
What they failed to understand was that FE's were the latest casualty .
First PVP fell , then STF's fell , and then FE's (as we knew them) fell .
What we got instead were "adventure zones" , and standing still , walking backwards (not S.8) , walking sideways (S.7) and Reputations .
Anything but forward motion . Anything but momentum .
Introducing a "new enemy" of the month matters little to none if you don't care about the enemy , or if that enemy has zero impact on the story progression .
Who cares about the "Elachi" ?
You may like their ships , but who cares about them , the Elachi themselves ?
Forward motion in STO has been stagnating since it's second year .
That's a long time to wait for something to happen to move us forward .
I agree with the OP but also with this. Personally, I don't care about what happens in the game anymore. I have 17 characters on one account. Every day, the only thing I do with any of them is log in, and run the doff missions at my fleets mine, and maybe run an STF or CE for marks of some sort on a few of them. I am leveling one character through the Nakura rep, but I don't really care about that either. It just something to do while I wait for the next thing to come along. And I know that when it does, I'll be bored with it after a few runs since nothing new will happen. I don't care that Borg cubes are running around the sectors, I don't care the rescue Defari from the breen for the Nth time. I'm LTS, and if I didn't have a fleet, I would just stop playing until the next thing comes along. And if I do that, why should I spend any money on the game any more?
Introducing a "new enemy" of the month matters little to none if you don't care about the enemy , or if that enemy has zero impact on the story progression .
Who cares about the "Elachi" ?
You may like their ships , but who cares about them , the Elachi themselves ?
Yes, this is exactly the problem we are tackling here. The basic flaw.
A small step would be to make dynamic event. Example, the Borg appear in Sirius Sector - we win ok, we loss then anothar mission appear Saying that Borg are attack a planet in the sector if wa fail again then Borg cube can begin to appear on the sector and engage palyer. A little thing in the same idea : the ennemy contaxt in sector : they should move and actually force player in combat so that cleaning them out has a meaning (you clear the path). Of course it is not enough but it would be the begining of something like if I act I made a difference (even a little one).
4I am in the same position in star trek. I don't have 17 characters but the characters I do have, have been played so much I have literally nothing left to do in the game except fly from system to system sector to sector. I got my 300 STF accolade 2 years ago, but because theres no game more original out there I keep playing. I've got a fleet, I've got a position as one of the more elder players in this game, I'm set up. If it weren't for this I would only be using my computer for watching movies and playing single player games like Rome 2 or games that can be played as movies then basically thrown away, like this game to the average new comer.
Skanvak is right, we are trying to tackle this5 problem, even if no one listens this is a problem that has become a plague which has effected in one form or another every MMO on sale. Aside from Eve to those who play it, there is no MMO world on the 2013 market which can satisfy people who are willing to sink a thousand hours into a game and enjoy it.
Daan2006 is right about STO "imo i dont think this game is going to be any thing more then rep grinds fleet base grinds and adventure zones grinds". Every MMO on the market can be summed up by 1 sentence the way Daan2006 has summed up sto. Sure there are other parts of every game that are interesting for a time and slightly original but each game core is based off a very simple linear idea which may not be all the same for all games but do all lack the same thing. Games lack anymore then an ounce of sandbox play and every game on the market would make you and everyone you play with "John Shepard Savior of the Galaxy" basically. 93
And aelfwin1 what you said I could not have said any better. Who needs a new enemy when no one has that Spark of hatred or even spark of intrest in any of the current enemies. I would like to see story arcs for the reputation tiers, being part of omega force missions or going to places and helping newly forming romulan colonies, before a new enemy is brought out with just as little depth to it.
I understand everyone on the forums have their own ideas of what they want and their own ideas of what they think will work but we really all want the same thing in the end. We want to, in theory, be able to live the life of someone who lives in the star trek universe. We want to be ourselves in star trek, not play through a star trek book. We want to tell people stories of game experiences that make them say,"wait, your talking about a computer game?"
Im not switching games but I would like to point out that EverQuest Next is coming out soon it is in beta testing and it is going to be the next generation of Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest, EverQuest 2 type high level sandbox game play. First new game of its Style of play in 10 years. If EverQuest Next is built to enhance what made those 3 games so successful, everything in this post and in this thread is about to become painfully relevant to the Devs with in the next year as they lose their place as top MMO. New games will come out mirroring the more sustainable enjoy ability of game play. STO worst case will not die a horrible death, its star trek it wont die, but it will slowly lose new players and eventually old ones until its only played by dedicated STO veterans. Except currently the dedicated STO veterans are not so happy it would seem. With years added to the mix and what I've seen from my extended time playing this game veterans are unlikely to stick around in large numbers especially if it starts getting hard to find new fleet members and the old ones start leaving for other games. This is unless solutions such as but not restricted to the things outlined in this thread are looked at with serious consideration.
I've run out of things to do and realized that i have no way of effecting the world around me.
Hehe, another one has a MMORPG epiphany. It's cute when it happens.
dynamic event.
That's a marketing gimmick, Questing Deluxe. There is nothing dynamic about it. If it were truly dynamic than a player would be able to attack the borg's manufacturing facility so they'd stop coming in the first place.
"Where's the manufacturing facility?"
Depends on where the borg players put it.
"Where would they put it?"
Think Real Time Strategy games like Empire Earth, it's not written in stone where you place your manufacturing facility and you sure wouldn't advertise it's position to your enemy.
DayZ like fractal seem to give the player a reason to act and roleplay. That what lack in most MMORPG.
Psycho, though I share you point of view on PnP RPG or TRPG (I did a lot), I think that today RPG come from console RPG/adventure/Diablo which make a gap between the original TRPG and the actual MMORPG. This gap explain the loss of purpose in the character life.
They focus on the "gros bill" way of play "we play of XP and Gear" and forget the roleplay and actual involvement in the game (if I don't save the princess, well she is not saved, that will impact the fictionnal world I am in).
They misunderstand that in TRPG the leveling speed was very slow in real time. Battle was limited actually and very challenging and rewarding. Coming to computer battle became fast so they had to reduce the xp but the leveling is still too fast because you don't need to gather friend to play and there is no end play.
The only way to bridge PnP roleplaying with computer gaming is something to replace the Dungeon Master.
"What does the Dungeon Master do?"
Well to be frank, he's God. He can spawn anything at any time, do anything he wants, kill you for no reason whatsoever.
"Sounds kinda lame and open to abuse."
Yeah it sounds kinda random and pointless like Gary's Mod.
But still, the solution is in the Dungeon Master, he's the guy who created content. And even the most noobish PnP Dungeon Masteri've played with created better content than MMORPG's quest grinding.
So the trick is to get the Dungeon Master into computer MMORPG's. Now how do you do that without favoritism, arbitrariness, and general online jerk-holery we all find so common in this online world?
"That's impossible"
No it's not, just use your imagination for once. It's very possible.
What does a Dungeon Master do in a PnP game? The Dungoen Master plays the more powerful characters/monsters, the Gods the Demons the Giants. Now what do powerful archetypes do in fantasy/fiction do? They spread their theme. Evil gods of dead spread death and disease. Good gods typically live in Romanesque buildings and pretty lights. Vampires spread the Gothic theme.
It's really very simple, powerful archetypes spread their "theme" that's their only goal in fiction. And that can easily be put into a MMORPG, letting players control the archetype and not imbalancing the game, creating favoritism, or general online jerk-holery.
Hehe, another one has a MMORPG epiphany. It's cute when it happens.
That's a marketing gimmick, Questing Deluxe. There is nothing dynamic about it. If it were truly dynamic than a player would be able to attack the borg's manufacturing facility so they'd stop coming in the first place.
"Where's the manufacturing facility?"
Depends on where the borg players put it.
"Where would they put it?"
Think Real Time Strategy games like Empire Earth, it's not written in stone where you place your manufacturing facility and you sure wouldn't advertise it's position to your enemy.
Watch this video, then this one. You can basically skip the first 26 minutes of the first one, unless you're really into sand art.
If even half the stuff they talk about pans out, hooooooly TRIBBLE.
Watch this video, then this one. You can basically skip the first 26 minutes of the first one, unless you're really into sand art.
If even half the stuff they talk about pans out, hooooooly TRIBBLE.
The AI would have to be extremely extremely complex. I don't think SONY has the imagination to do that.
The solution is to adopt Real Time Strategy elements and mix it into the MMORPG where the players make the decisions, not AI-deluxe.
Developers have already proven they don't know how to make good AI. The Elder Scrolls AI, which is suppose to be the best, actually has become dumber and less sophisticated in subsequent games.
And we've seen "destructible environments" in Diablo3. *Yawn* It doesn't effect anything in the end, it's just another gimmick. Even if you smash a wall it will just spontaneously rebuild a few minutes later, you wouldn't have accomplished anything.
And when you get "dynamic events in the same zone", you get what you have in WOW which was an instance of a zone generated just for you or players like you doing what you are doing. *yawn*
MMORPG developers are completely unwilling of letting players control the world, they have to control players actions with a fine tooth comb, never letting them stray.
Hey I have an idea. Instead of giving the player the illusion of choice you actually give players the freedom do do what they want.
And we've seen "destructible environments" in Diablo3. *Yawn* It doesn't effect anything in the end, it's just another gimmick. Even if you smash a wall it will just spontaneously rebuild a few minutes later, you wouldn't have accomplished anything.
True, he did say certain things would grow back. He also said the underground areas are procedurally generated, and will change over time. There are no set dungeons anymore.
And when you get "dynamic events in the same zone", you get what you have in WOW which was an instance of a zone generated just for you or players like you doing what you are doing. *yawn*
Completely off base from what the man said, its obvious you skimmed the video. The rally calls are world wide quests that change the world. Not just for you and your friends, for everyone.
MMORPG developers are completely unwilling of letting players control the world, they have to control players actions with a fine tooth comb, never letting them stray.
Hey I have an idea. Instead of giving the player the illusion of choice you actually give players the freedom do do what they want.
That is called Landmarks. Imagine Minecraft times a factor of a thousand. Now imagine the devs will be picking some of the best creations that fit with the EQN visual style, and putting it game. Not the broken down Foundry way we have here. In the actual game world.
Completely off base from what the man said, its obvious you skimmed the video. The rally calls are world wide quests that change the world. Not just for you and your friends, for everyone.
Doing a quest in WOW changes the world too. Then 5 minute later the world resets so the next player can "change the world" too. MMORPG players have so much vanity, and so very little imagination.
That is called Landmarks. Imagine Minecraft times a factor of a thousand. Now imagine the devs will be picking some of the best creations that fit with the EQN visual style, and putting it game. Not the broken down Foundry way we have here. In the actual game world.
Oh nonono. This is a foundry thing.
Minecraft and Gary's Mod is a pointless "float around and spawn junk" game, and that's not a far cry away from the foundry. Why do you think the foundry is completely separated from the rest of the world in STO? Because you "float around and spawn junk".
Floating around and spawning junk doesn't exactly balance well with developer created content, that's why it will always remain separate.
Gee I wish I could float around and spawn myself some fleet weapons. And in PVP maybe I could float around and spawn a sun right on top of an enemy, and BLAMO I WIN! HAHAHAA!!!
I just spent the last 3 months playing Star Wars Galaxies Emulator, and these guys turned it into a WOW-clone by letting you have 10 character slots per account instead of 1. Even the guys at SWGemu, who are trying to create a PRE-CU server, don't understand how one thing effects another. It completely wrecked the economy, you basically now have a WOW-clone economy where all you do is create alts and grind up alts and then grind up mobs and in the end can't sell anything cause everyone is doing the same thing with their 10 alts.
SWG EMU! INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS SCREWED UP SWG EMU!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!
These guys are even going to implement Jedi the same way as an alpha class, which was responsible for the first mass exodus from SWG.
Think Real Time Strategy games like Empire Earth, it's not written in stone where you place your manufacturing facility and you sure wouldn't advertise it's position to your enemy.
Yes, the RTS would be nice though the time building would be in real days. I have already think on this line but I don't think this solution will fit in STO. The idea is good for an original fantasy RPG in my opinion but not for an evolution of STO.
I think too that you are too sceptical about the dyunamic event. I don't speak of the WoW event, but the one of GW2. Of course they reboot and the world is only going from situation A to situation B and back. But still it is better than nothing. Of course real implication of the player is better but we are in a franchise game. That mean the evolution must be more controlled. If PWE Master Dynamics event we might espect that they can do living stories or the like. Implement election, after all all body in Star Trek have an elective system (arguably even the borg as they think collectivelly).
I like your post were you speak of imagination. Yes, developper need to use their imagination to get out of the dead end we are in. But part of your solution is harder in STO as this is not a black and white setting. So no archetype spreading their basic theme. Though, we need imagination to get reward from something else than grinding and fighting.
I DD 3.5 they introduced skill challenge that were system-wise not very different from fighting but offer other way to an end than fighting with different result (it is different to convince someone than to kill it even if bothare resolve by a dice roll).
While I would love to see this game take on a more organic feeling, I feel like sometimes with these threads people are just requesting features form other games: "I want X from WoW", "Can we have Y like in Star Wars Galaxy?", "EVE does it, why can't we?"
Just because it WORKS in another game does not mean it would transition well into STO. Soemthings are designed with different mechanics, audiences, IPs, systems, or programming involved. While we can take cues form other games, I would much rather have STO try to do something unique something that has never been done in an MMO before. I think we still have room for an Open universe with discovery and wonder. Integrating the Foundry missions into the universe better would be a great start, as the thousands of authors can come up with content faster than a couple dozen devs.
There are soemthings we can learn form other games, but this is Star Trek Online, not Star Wars Galaxy 2. We should not reboot it completely.
I agree.
I don't WANT this to be WoW in Space... or EVE Trek... or anything else.
We're supposed to be starship captains. We don't need our own living quarters on Earth somewhere and we don't need to be mixing drinks in a Ferengi bar in our spare time.
We're supposed to be boldly going... Five year mission, and all that? Exactly one series was about a space station and it didn't take too long before they were flying all over the place in runabouts and later in the Defiant.
What we do need are things to do and interesting diversions for when we don't quite feel like blowing up Klingons/Federation/Romulans that day.
I will agree with the first post that fleet administration could still use some more love. I can't quite bring myself to argue that it's a priority... but eventually, yes.
There are three things this game still needs to focus on (in broad terms) besides cranking out FE's whenever they can: PvP, Foundry, and Exploration. They also need to work on bringing the RP back into the MMORPG so social interaction has a point. Every other freaking thing is just a luxury that can wait.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
The only way to bridge PnP roleplaying with computer gaming is something to replace the Dungeon Master.
"What does the Dungeon Master do?"
Well to be frank, he's God. He can spawn anything at any time, do anything he wants, kill you for no reason whatsoever.
"Sounds kinda lame and open to abuse."
Yeah it sounds kinda random and pointless like Gary's Mod.
But still, the solution is in the Dungeon Master, he's the guy who created content. And even the most noobish PnP Dungeon Masteri've played with created better content than MMORPG's quest grinding.
So the trick is to get the Dungeon Master into computer MMORPG's. Now how do you do that without favoritism, arbitrariness, and general online jerk-holery we all find so common in this online world?
"That's impossible"
No it's not, just use your imagination for once. It's very possible.
What does a Dungeon Master do in a PnP game? The Dungoen Master plays the more powerful characters/monsters, the Gods the Demons the Giants. Now what do powerful archetypes do in fantasy/fiction do? They spread their theme. Evil gods of dead spread death and disease. Good gods typically live in Romanesque buildings and pretty lights. Vampires spread the Gothic theme.
It's really very simple, powerful archetypes spread their "theme" that's their only goal in fiction. And that can easily be put into a MMORPG, letting players control the archetype and not imbalancing the game, creating favoritism, or general online jerk-holery.
"How?"
Use your imagination.
I'd like to think of this as a mutation of the Foundry, where the environment, objectives, and some of the dialog is pre-scripted but one player gets to be the Antagonist on every map.
The Antagonist would be able to roam the encounter invisibly and would get a special UI element that allows him to trigger certain events on cue and the ability to 'possess' certain key NPC's as if his character wore that NPC's skin and belonged to that faction/race. The Antagonist would not otherwise directly interact with the scenario.
Aside from the obvious benefit of manipulating the activity with human intelligence, it would also have uses in staging RP events and machinima.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I don't wanna get too off topic though the point is the time might be coming when the sandbox game takes off even if Everquest Next isn't the next big game and the argument isn't weather it is or isn't its that sandbox has an innate appeal and I don't consider breaking stuff sandbox. See the thing for me is I like star trek and I find it highly unfortunate because of all the themes in all the world Star Trek always seemed to beg to be done as a sandbox game the most. Its perfect for it. But what we have currently is WoWTrek in a lot of ways and in some similar ways EveTrek. To be honest when I way playing star wars galaxies I thought man how id love to play a Star Trek MMO. However since the very first time I played STO, I have always been at least some what unsatisfied by what they've done considering what they could do, considering what kind of content and story they have to work with.
also if you built the game sandbox A DM could simply be a character whos a high level and has so much sway because of what they have accomplished they are able to do things other players haven't gotten to yet. IE in galaxies if you owned a city you were able to have parties in your city put down dance floors or big fire pits and chairs but because of the nature of the game It all worked out. Its not about having 1 DM its about giving lots of people the ability to be a DM in their own little way. currently you can not effect the environment so theres no current DM metaphor in STO aside from the foundry which is like hey come run my campaign.
Bluegeek "There are three things this game still needs to focus on (in broad terms) besides cranking out FE's whenever they can: PvP, Foundry, and Exploration. They also need to work on bringing the RP back into the MMORPG so social interaction has a point. Every other freaking thing is just a luxury that can wait."
I completely agree on all of that but it has to be different then it is now if they don't find a way to let people PvP in world its not going to be good enough.
Foundry missions I think primarily need better integration into the world. A lot of things need better, seamless, integration into the world. For instance Queues were a good stop gap when there was no one playing but you completely lose immersion each time you enter a queue instance.
But anyway, exploration is the worst off currently and really its where sto should shine. The Developers original random world generator for the nebula missions was really promising to me when I first started playing STO. I thought to my self if they capitalized on it they could have done some really interesting things but nothing really ever came of it. I think Solar Definition (ability to navigate to a specific planet in a system) and opening up of deep space to some new original and engaging game play ideas would be a good long term solution but of course that does not mean its viable currently. I just want to point out I haven't been to a large portion of the STO galaxy in literally multiple years because I don't have any reason.
Also where in some games you constantly meet new people while doing things, in STO when you quest you quest alone. Usually you do every thing alone until you have a fleet to play with. Although I do love my fleet the point is in real life people talk to each and you don't have to be in some special club to do it. The only time I ever talk to other people besides fleet mates is when I'm playing with a party amplifier and people start gathering around or I see someone who stands out and I have to tell them I like their clothes or something. Many fleets recruit simply by inviting people who are not in a fleet, do it without even talking to them and hope they stick around. There's very little social interaction involved.
and fredscarran
Im not sure if its going to stay like that the Emu isn't done. It might be to help test the game engine in some way.
Andoria and interiors for the FED, KDF, (and eventually RR) spacedocks* could use alteration. Maybe have Paris, Boreth, and a Romulan fleetbase added as well.
People live in Dwellings. Kirk had an apartment. Picard, he was off in space for years but his ship was his home. Sysco Lived on DS9. The point is if you don't have a place "to come back to" your not exploring your wandering. Even if the Devs just gave us more customizable ship interiors so we felt like we were home wed have a place to go that's "ours".
Every captain in star trek considered their ship and their captains quarters their home if not their home away from home. The feeling of home comes from fondness and familiarity and is a personal extension of who you are.
There are many occasions in star trek when someone's quarters and the way they were decorated became a topic. So maybe its not a big bullet on important things the game needs but I refuse to believe its all together unimportant.
I wander the universe currently I don't explore it... in more ways then one.
P.S. - Not throwing out an argument just some quick summing up, although the original post has a lot of ideas this thread is filled with peoples ideas ranging from Exploration, raids, and PvP to Crafting, enhancements to ship interiors(including but not limited to decoration and personalization), and "off-duty activities". Although I know the developers have to chose which things they add and when in accordance with how much time it will take and the potential benefits it will gain for the time it will require to do it. With this being acknowledged, I don't feel they have been doing a good job and although it is not my place to outright say what is right I believe this thread outlines a lot of good ideas that although are not perfect are a supremely good basis for future brainstorming when the question of content arises. How the ideas are worked in of course in the end is up to the developer as they do know their system the best.
Foundry missions I think primarily need better integration into the world. A lot of things need better, seamless, integration into the world. For instance Queues were a good stop gap when there was no one playing but you completely lose immersion each time you enter a queue instance.
You can never integrate the foundry into the world as long as anyone can just float around and spawn stuff.
The ability to place objects, buildings, and NPC's into a map with Foundry-like powers can done as long as it follows logistical-cost rules; that means Real Time Strategy.
If you want to place a starbase over there, it's gonna cost you credits and stuff. And you're going to have to transport the raw materials there to build it.
If you want to place 50 NPC ships to guard the starbase, it's going to cost you even more. And if the shipyard is far away it's going to cost you more time and effort. And if the raw materials the shipyard needs is far away it's going to cost even more time and effort. And if the enemy is constantly sieging the planet which has the raw materials which go to the shipyard than dang....
Some people are like, "that sounds like Eve Online." No Eve is not a real time strategy game. You only control 1 entity, it takes forever to get your ship or POS, and it takes forever to maintain a POS, and it takes forever to destroy a POS. It's nothing like a RTS.
See one side of the EXTREME we got Eve Online where it takes you 6 months to grind away for a ship. And on the other side of the EXTREME we got StarCraft where games last 2 minutes. Dang, can't game developers find the middle ground.
I don't wanna get too off topic though the point is the time might be coming when the sandbox game takes off even if Everquest Next isn't the next big game and the argument isn't weather it is or isn't its that sandbox has an innate appeal and I don't consider breaking stuff sandbox.
Well that's what you do in a sandbox, you build something with sand and then bulldoze it over. Kids do that a lot in the sandbox.
You know what happens in Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies when you can build anywhere you want, and nobody can break your stuff? Yeah, you run out of room to build stuff, and the landscape becomes littered with POS. Then the developers come out with these 1-building per player rules. Yeah Ultima Online guys you know what I"m talking about yeah.
I'd like to think of this as a mutation of the Foundry, where the environment, objectives, and some of the dialog is pre-scripted but one player gets to be the Antagonist on every map.
The Antagonist would be able to roam the encounter invisibly and would get a special UI element that allows him to trigger certain events on cue and the ability to 'possess' certain key NPC's as if his character wore that NPC's skin and belonged to that faction/race. The Antagonist would not otherwise directly interact with the scenario.
Aside from the obvious benefit of manipulating the activity with human intelligence, it would also have uses in staging RP events and machinima.
Powerful characters could be controlled by any Joe subscriber, any time they wanted, in the same world as everyone else IF there are 2 completely different sets of rules.
1) First are the normal sets of MMORPG rules for your normal mortal characters. And what do we mortals want? Power, wealth, the best DPS, and maybe a castle on the hill.
2) The second set of rules are for the powerful characters who have 1 goal, to spread their theme. This should put them into contention with other powerful characters who want to spread their theme throughout the world. IN fantasy-fiction that would be good God's vs evil God's. In this game it would be Federation vs. Klingon. Or there could be neutral ones like mutant Gorn or Ferengi Merchants. Guess what, they all have different themes, color schemes, art styles, objects, entities, NPC's, ships; and for some reason in the story they are always in contention. This could be done in real time, without any restrictive rules either.
The normal characters should not be in direct compettion or even direct contact with the alpha-characters
Powerful characters could be controlled by any Joe subscriber, any time they wanted, in the same world as everyone else IF there are 2 completely different sets of rules.
1) First are the normal sets of MMORPG rules for your normal mortal characters. And what do we mortals want? Power, wealth, the best DPS, and maybe a castle on the hill.
2) The second set of rules are for the powerful characters who have 1 goal, to spread their theme. This should put them into contention with other powerful characters who want to spread their theme throughout the world. IN fantasy-fiction that would be good God's vs evil God's. In this game it would be Federation vs. Klingon. Or there could be neutral ones like mutant Gorn or Ferengi Merchants. Guess what, they all have different themes, color schemes, art styles, objects, entities, NPC's, ships; and for some reason in the story they are always in contention. This could be done in real time, without any restrictive rules either.
The normal characters should not be in direct compettion or even direct contact with the alpha-characters
I pretty much agree with all of that.
The Antagonist role I mentioned in a previous post should be a temporary role that's filled during the scenario... the player would not "own" any of the characters... he would simply "wear them" like a suit of clothing that gets taken off at the end of the scenario.
That could allow a Foundry author to create a scenario that can be interacted with, without needing the author to run it each time. The Antagonist simply takes up a predetermined role and uses his Antagonist powers to make the scenario come alive.
The tech would not be trivial at all and the ROI would probably stink. But it would be an innovation that doesn't exist in any MMO I know of.
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The Antagonist role I mentioned in a previous post should be a temporary role that's filled during the scenario... the player would not "own" any of the characters... he would simply "wear them" like a suit of clothing that gets taken off at the end of the scenario.
That could allow a Foundry author to create a scenario that can be interacted with, without needing the author to run it each time. The Antagonist simply takes up a predetermined role and uses his Antagonist powers to make the scenario come alive.
The tech would not be trivial at all and the ROI would probably stink. But it would be an innovation that doesn't exist in any MMO I know of.
I think the ability to place entities/buildings/objects/NPC's and control NPC scripts (or even an NPC in person) could be done in the main game without using an instanced Foundry system.
The author controlling one of his characters in a foundry mission would only be interesting to the 1-4 people on a Foundry mission.
You can never integrate the foundry into the world as long as anyone can just float around and spawn stuff.
If foundry missions objects were based off a point level and players were given some sort of guidelines with which to built missions there wouldn't be the problems there are now. That's the reason for a "system" in anything sandbox, to give rigidity to and direction to something completely malleable.
Otherwise its like listening to children play," yeah well you have a sword I have a SUPER CANNON I blow you up", "NA AH CANT DO THAT". "Can too" ext ext ext.
But no we don't need a DM in a computer RPG the computer is suppose to be the DM. There is just no game out there which has set up their world to be conducive to helping players create there own stories as a result of "living" in the world. If you've played for years you should be in a position were you've acquired enough to be able to further other peoples in game experiences.
A good example but not one I am recommending for game is, if say you have a bar and you have gotten awesome dancers and done things to get the best food awesome screens and people want to come to your bar, now all those people who have come to your bar are experiencing having a party in game and rockin out and its all because the one player who owns the bar has taken the time to set up something that allowed the other players to be able to experience what they experienced. Its a simple essential idea which doesn't really exist in STO unless your a fleet leader. But theres no need for a DM just an environment that allows for the previously stated concept to have merit on a large scale. Admittedly probably not an overnight task.
character uniformity seems to be a theme of this game and most other games out there. Sure there are of course things to separate your character from your friends character and your fleet from your friends fleet. Theres just... not horribly many meny of them.
The game the OP is looking for is called EVE Online.
Without launching into a long rambling post about why Eve works the way it does, I'll just say that the entire game is PVP in some form or another. That's how you affect the world around you - trading, mining, manufacturing, actual combat.
STO is a game in a closed bottle and as such will not evolve unless the devs change X or Y. Everybody's leveled up to 50, is flying a supercoolguy ship and has wtfpwnface gear. You're out of new things to do and there won't be any new things to do unless the devs implement them.
Meanwhile the EVE team adds a new ship here or there but spends most of their time working on mechanics and 'rules' for lack of a more precise term. A friend of mine flew with a corp that literally broke the Incursion mechanics and got the whole thing revamped. THAT'S how you influence the world around you.
A few more potted plants scattered around, playing virtual chess with virtual people, or sitting around in common areas reading old dusty books isn't going to do anything for immersion or shaping your world.
This is a train set; you will play with your ships and perform these prescribed activities until we include more.
Meanwhile over in Eve, the players have been writing the history of that game for 10 years. Think of some cool stories from your STO experience - all of them are "that time we fought Donatra and..." or whatever. Meanwhile in Eve it's more like "yeah we fitted out ten cruisers and went on a 50-jump roam through enemy territory killing whoever and whatever we found." Or my personal favorite, "yeah I grabbed my Covops ship, flew through ten contested systems, and anchored a container outside the home station of a corporation we were at war with that said 'this can is mocking you.'"
You will not achieve that level of freedom and player-driven evolution in this game. This is a game for trek fans to play with their trek toys; I've seen most of the shows and movies and think some of it was kind of neat, and I play this game to relax and pewpewpew bots while pretending I'm a starship captain (the Foundry has held a great deal of my interest lately). There are clearly-defined boundaries of STO pretend-land and you will not step outside of them.
I'd still be playing Eve if not for the fact that it's so brutal and unforgiving, which is the exact opposite of this game (stupidly easy and no negative consequences for anything whatsoever). But that's WHY you can actually shape the world around you - what you do matters to somebody. One time we bashed down a player-owned customs station for the hell of it; it required a fleet of battleships, a scout, and noobs in frigates to try to tie up the enemy ships for our heavy-hitters. It was an afternoon-long operation and I'm sure as soon as we were done somebody else moved in to fill the vaccuum. The guy on the losing end was out hundreds of millions of credits for the station and the ships we slagged.
Most people in this game don't even PVP. And you want to shape the universe? Heh. You will wait until the next big content release, burn through it all in a day or two, and then be back to square one.
The Foundry at least lets you continue to play a theoretically-unlimited amount of content but the sticking point is that you're still waiting on somebody to make the missions that you then play. You literally cannot just jump in your Defiant and go find some fun.
I'm not bothered by this state of affairs; as I said I play this game to relax and not get all worked up over a video game full of people trying to kill me. But it's foolish to think that this game will ever give people the freedom they're looking for. Again, to hammer the point some more, only EVE really does that because of the fundamental difference in philosophy regarding PVP and player competition.
Comments
Ppl were angry . Ppl didn't understand .
What they failed to understand was that FE's were the latest casualty .
First PVP fell , then STF's fell , and then FE's (as we knew them) fell .
What we got instead were "adventure zones" , and standing still , walking backwards (not S.8) , walking sideways (S.7) and Reputations .
Anything but forward motion . Anything but momentum .
Introducing a "new enemy" of the month matters little to none if you don't care about the enemy , or if that enemy has zero impact on the story progression .
Who cares about the "Elachi" ?
You may like their ships , but who cares about them , the Elachi themselves ?
Forward motion in STO has been stagnating since it's second year .
That's a long time to wait for something to happen to move us forward .
imo i dont think this game is going to be any thing more then rep grinds fleet base grinds and adventure zones grinds
system Lord Baal is dead
I agree with the OP but also with this. Personally, I don't care about what happens in the game anymore. I have 17 characters on one account. Every day, the only thing I do with any of them is log in, and run the doff missions at my fleets mine, and maybe run an STF or CE for marks of some sort on a few of them. I am leveling one character through the Nakura rep, but I don't really care about that either. It just something to do while I wait for the next thing to come along. And I know that when it does, I'll be bored with it after a few runs since nothing new will happen. I don't care that Borg cubes are running around the sectors, I don't care the rescue Defari from the breen for the Nth time. I'm LTS, and if I didn't have a fleet, I would just stop playing until the next thing comes along. And if I do that, why should I spend any money on the game any more?
Nouveau riche LTS member
Yes, this is exactly the problem we are tackling here. The basic flaw.
A small step would be to make dynamic event. Example, the Borg appear in Sirius Sector - we win ok, we loss then anothar mission appear Saying that Borg are attack a planet in the sector if wa fail again then Borg cube can begin to appear on the sector and engage palyer. A little thing in the same idea : the ennemy contaxt in sector : they should move and actually force player in combat so that cleaning them out has a meaning (you clear the path). Of course it is not enough but it would be the begining of something like if I act I made a difference (even a little one).
Skanvak Drakken
http://lamaisondesdrakkens.clan-box.com/index.php
Skanvak is right, we are trying to tackle this5 problem, even if no one listens this is a problem that has become a plague which has effected in one form or another every MMO on sale. Aside from Eve to those who play it, there is no MMO world on the 2013 market which can satisfy people who are willing to sink a thousand hours into a game and enjoy it.
Daan2006 is right about STO "imo i dont think this game is going to be any thing more then rep grinds fleet base grinds and adventure zones grinds". Every MMO on the market can be summed up by 1 sentence the way Daan2006 has summed up sto. Sure there are other parts of every game that are interesting for a time and slightly original but each game core is based off a very simple linear idea which may not be all the same for all games but do all lack the same thing. Games lack anymore then an ounce of sandbox play and every game on the market would make you and everyone you play with "John Shepard Savior of the Galaxy" basically. 93
And aelfwin1 what you said I could not have said any better. Who needs a new enemy when no one has that Spark of hatred or even spark of intrest in any of the current enemies. I would like to see story arcs for the reputation tiers, being part of omega force missions or going to places and helping newly forming romulan colonies, before a new enemy is brought out with just as little depth to it.
I understand everyone on the forums have their own ideas of what they want and their own ideas of what they think will work but we really all want the same thing in the end. We want to, in theory, be able to live the life of someone who lives in the star trek universe. We want to be ourselves in star trek, not play through a star trek book. We want to tell people stories of game experiences that make them say,"wait, your talking about a computer game?"
Im not switching games but I would like to point out that EverQuest Next is coming out soon it is in beta testing and it is going to be the next generation of Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest, EverQuest 2 type high level sandbox game play. First new game of its Style of play in 10 years. If EverQuest Next is built to enhance what made those 3 games so successful, everything in this post and in this thread is about to become painfully relevant to the Devs with in the next year as they lose their place as top MMO. New games will come out mirroring the more sustainable enjoy ability of game play. STO worst case will not die a horrible death, its star trek it wont die, but it will slowly lose new players and eventually old ones until its only played by dedicated STO veterans. Except currently the dedicated STO veterans are not so happy it would seem. With years added to the mix and what I've seen from my extended time playing this game veterans are unlikely to stick around in large numbers especially if it starts getting hard to find new fleet members and the old ones start leaving for other games. This is unless solutions such as but not restricted to the things outlined in this thread are looked at with serious consideration.
Hehe, another one has a MMORPG epiphany. It's cute when it happens.
That's a marketing gimmick, Questing Deluxe. There is nothing dynamic about it. If it were truly dynamic than a player would be able to attack the borg's manufacturing facility so they'd stop coming in the first place.
"Where's the manufacturing facility?"
Depends on where the borg players put it.
"Where would they put it?"
Think Real Time Strategy games like Empire Earth, it's not written in stone where you place your manufacturing facility and you sure wouldn't advertise it's position to your enemy.
The only way to bridge PnP roleplaying with computer gaming is something to replace the Dungeon Master.
"What does the Dungeon Master do?"
Well to be frank, he's God. He can spawn anything at any time, do anything he wants, kill you for no reason whatsoever.
"Sounds kinda lame and open to abuse."
Yeah it sounds kinda random and pointless like Gary's Mod.
But still, the solution is in the Dungeon Master, he's the guy who created content. And even the most noobish PnP Dungeon Masteri've played with created better content than MMORPG's quest grinding.
So the trick is to get the Dungeon Master into computer MMORPG's. Now how do you do that without favoritism, arbitrariness, and general online jerk-holery we all find so common in this online world?
"That's impossible"
No it's not, just use your imagination for once. It's very possible.
What does a Dungeon Master do in a PnP game? The Dungoen Master plays the more powerful characters/monsters, the Gods the Demons the Giants. Now what do powerful archetypes do in fantasy/fiction do? They spread their theme. Evil gods of dead spread death and disease. Good gods typically live in Romanesque buildings and pretty lights. Vampires spread the Gothic theme.
It's really very simple, powerful archetypes spread their "theme" that's their only goal in fiction. And that can easily be put into a MMORPG, letting players control the archetype and not imbalancing the game, creating favoritism, or general online jerk-holery.
"How?"
Use your imagination.
Watch this video, then this one. You can basically skip the first 26 minutes of the first one, unless you're really into sand art.
If even half the stuff they talk about pans out, hooooooly TRIBBLE.
The AI would have to be extremely extremely complex. I don't think SONY has the imagination to do that.
The solution is to adopt Real Time Strategy elements and mix it into the MMORPG where the players make the decisions, not AI-deluxe.
Developers have already proven they don't know how to make good AI. The Elder Scrolls AI, which is suppose to be the best, actually has become dumber and less sophisticated in subsequent games.
And we've seen "destructible environments" in Diablo3. *Yawn* It doesn't effect anything in the end, it's just another gimmick. Even if you smash a wall it will just spontaneously rebuild a few minutes later, you wouldn't have accomplished anything.
And when you get "dynamic events in the same zone", you get what you have in WOW which was an instance of a zone generated just for you or players like you doing what you are doing. *yawn*
MMORPG developers are completely unwilling of letting players control the world, they have to control players actions with a fine tooth comb, never letting them stray.
Hey I have an idea. Instead of giving the player the illusion of choice you actually give players the freedom do do what they want.
Sony didn't make the AI, Storybricks did. Its an already proven tech.
True, he did say certain things would grow back. He also said the underground areas are procedurally generated, and will change over time. There are no set dungeons anymore.
Completely off base from what the man said, its obvious you skimmed the video. The rally calls are world wide quests that change the world. Not just for you and your friends, for everyone.
That is called Landmarks. Imagine Minecraft times a factor of a thousand. Now imagine the devs will be picking some of the best creations that fit with the EQN visual style, and putting it game. Not the broken down Foundry way we have here. In the actual game world.
Doing a quest in WOW changes the world too. Then 5 minute later the world resets so the next player can "change the world" too. MMORPG players have so much vanity, and so very little imagination.
Oh nonono. This is a foundry thing.
Minecraft and Gary's Mod is a pointless "float around and spawn junk" game, and that's not a far cry away from the foundry. Why do you think the foundry is completely separated from the rest of the world in STO? Because you "float around and spawn junk".
Floating around and spawning junk doesn't exactly balance well with developer created content, that's why it will always remain separate.
Gee I wish I could float around and spawn myself some fleet weapons. And in PVP maybe I could float around and spawn a sun right on top of an enemy, and BLAMO I WIN! HAHAHAA!!!
*scratches head all crazy like*
I just spent the last 3 months playing Star Wars Galaxies Emulator, and these guys turned it into a WOW-clone by letting you have 10 character slots per account instead of 1. Even the guys at SWGemu, who are trying to create a PRE-CU server, don't understand how one thing effects another. It completely wrecked the economy, you basically now have a WOW-clone economy where all you do is create alts and grind up alts and then grind up mobs and in the end can't sell anything cause everyone is doing the same thing with their 10 alts.
SWG EMU! INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS SCREWED UP SWG EMU!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!
These guys are even going to implement Jedi the same way as an alpha class, which was responsible for the first mass exodus from SWG.
Yes, the RTS would be nice though the time building would be in real days. I have already think on this line but I don't think this solution will fit in STO. The idea is good for an original fantasy RPG in my opinion but not for an evolution of STO.
I think too that you are too sceptical about the dyunamic event. I don't speak of the WoW event, but the one of GW2. Of course they reboot and the world is only going from situation A to situation B and back. But still it is better than nothing. Of course real implication of the player is better but we are in a franchise game. That mean the evolution must be more controlled. If PWE Master Dynamics event we might espect that they can do living stories or the like. Implement election, after all all body in Star Trek have an elective system (arguably even the borg as they think collectivelly).
I like your post were you speak of imagination. Yes, developper need to use their imagination to get out of the dead end we are in. But part of your solution is harder in STO as this is not a black and white setting. So no archetype spreading their basic theme. Though, we need imagination to get reward from something else than grinding and fighting.
I DD 3.5 they introduced skill challenge that were system-wise not very different from fighting but offer other way to an end than fighting with different result (it is different to convince someone than to kill it even if bothare resolve by a dice roll).
So yes, use our imagination.
Skanvak Drakken
http://lamaisondesdrakkens.clan-box.com/index.php
I agree.
I don't WANT this to be WoW in Space... or EVE Trek... or anything else.
We're supposed to be starship captains. We don't need our own living quarters on Earth somewhere and we don't need to be mixing drinks in a Ferengi bar in our spare time.
We're supposed to be boldly going... Five year mission, and all that? Exactly one series was about a space station and it didn't take too long before they were flying all over the place in runabouts and later in the Defiant.
What we do need are things to do and interesting diversions for when we don't quite feel like blowing up Klingons/Federation/Romulans that day.
I will agree with the first post that fleet administration could still use some more love. I can't quite bring myself to argue that it's a priority... but eventually, yes.
There are three things this game still needs to focus on (in broad terms) besides cranking out FE's whenever they can: PvP, Foundry, and Exploration. They also need to work on bringing the RP back into the MMORPG so social interaction has a point. Every other freaking thing is just a luxury that can wait.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I'd like to think of this as a mutation of the Foundry, where the environment, objectives, and some of the dialog is pre-scripted but one player gets to be the Antagonist on every map.
The Antagonist would be able to roam the encounter invisibly and would get a special UI element that allows him to trigger certain events on cue and the ability to 'possess' certain key NPC's as if his character wore that NPC's skin and belonged to that faction/race. The Antagonist would not otherwise directly interact with the scenario.
Aside from the obvious benefit of manipulating the activity with human intelligence, it would also have uses in staging RP events and machinima.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
also if you built the game sandbox A DM could simply be a character whos a high level and has so much sway because of what they have accomplished they are able to do things other players haven't gotten to yet. IE in galaxies if you owned a city you were able to have parties in your city put down dance floors or big fire pits and chairs but because of the nature of the game It all worked out. Its not about having 1 DM its about giving lots of people the ability to be a DM in their own little way. currently you can not effect the environment so theres no current DM metaphor in STO aside from the foundry which is like hey come run my campaign.
I completely agree on all of that but it has to be different then it is now if they don't find a way to let people PvP in world its not going to be good enough.
Foundry missions I think primarily need better integration into the world. A lot of things need better, seamless, integration into the world. For instance Queues were a good stop gap when there was no one playing but you completely lose immersion each time you enter a queue instance.
But anyway, exploration is the worst off currently and really its where sto should shine. The Developers original random world generator for the nebula missions was really promising to me when I first started playing STO. I thought to my self if they capitalized on it they could have done some really interesting things but nothing really ever came of it. I think Solar Definition (ability to navigate to a specific planet in a system) and opening up of deep space to some new original and engaging game play ideas would be a good long term solution but of course that does not mean its viable currently. I just want to point out I haven't been to a large portion of the STO galaxy in literally multiple years because I don't have any reason.
Also where in some games you constantly meet new people while doing things, in STO when you quest you quest alone. Usually you do every thing alone until you have a fleet to play with. Although I do love my fleet the point is in real life people talk to each and you don't have to be in some special club to do it. The only time I ever talk to other people besides fleet mates is when I'm playing with a party amplifier and people start gathering around or I see someone who stands out and I have to tell them I like their clothes or something. Many fleets recruit simply by inviting people who are not in a fleet, do it without even talking to them and hope they stick around. There's very little social interaction involved.
and fredscarran
Im not sure if its going to stay like that the Emu isn't done. It might be to help test the game engine in some way.
*As in moving some rooms to different decks.
Every captain in star trek considered their ship and their captains quarters their home if not their home away from home. The feeling of home comes from fondness and familiarity and is a personal extension of who you are.
There are many occasions in star trek when someone's quarters and the way they were decorated became a topic. So maybe its not a big bullet on important things the game needs but I refuse to believe its all together unimportant.
I wander the universe currently I don't explore it... in more ways then one.
P.S. - Not throwing out an argument just some quick summing up, although the original post has a lot of ideas this thread is filled with peoples ideas ranging from Exploration, raids, and PvP to Crafting, enhancements to ship interiors(including but not limited to decoration and personalization), and "off-duty activities". Although I know the developers have to chose which things they add and when in accordance with how much time it will take and the potential benefits it will gain for the time it will require to do it. With this being acknowledged, I don't feel they have been doing a good job and although it is not my place to outright say what is right I believe this thread outlines a lot of good ideas that although are not perfect are a supremely good basis for future brainstorming when the question of content arises. How the ideas are worked in of course in the end is up to the developer as they do know their system the best.
sameo sameo, been there done that, grinding extra strength.
The housing thing is funny.
Customer, "Hey you know what would be cool? Housing."
Developer, "OK here you go."
Customer, "It's in an instance."
Developer, "Yeah? Your point?"
Customer, "Wlell in Ultima Online or SWG anyone can visit your house."
Developer, "OK we'll put in a visit option."
Customer, "Ugh man that's not the same thing."
Developer, "C'mon what do you really want?"
Customer, "Housing."
lol
You can never integrate the foundry into the world as long as anyone can just float around and spawn stuff.
The ability to place objects, buildings, and NPC's into a map with Foundry-like powers can done as long as it follows logistical-cost rules; that means Real Time Strategy.
If you want to place a starbase over there, it's gonna cost you credits and stuff. And you're going to have to transport the raw materials there to build it.
If you want to place 50 NPC ships to guard the starbase, it's going to cost you even more. And if the shipyard is far away it's going to cost you more time and effort. And if the raw materials the shipyard needs is far away it's going to cost even more time and effort. And if the enemy is constantly sieging the planet which has the raw materials which go to the shipyard than dang....
Some people are like, "that sounds like Eve Online." No Eve is not a real time strategy game. You only control 1 entity, it takes forever to get your ship or POS, and it takes forever to maintain a POS, and it takes forever to destroy a POS. It's nothing like a RTS.
See one side of the EXTREME we got Eve Online where it takes you 6 months to grind away for a ship. And on the other side of the EXTREME we got StarCraft where games last 2 minutes. Dang, can't game developers find the middle ground.
Well that's what you do in a sandbox, you build something with sand and then bulldoze it over. Kids do that a lot in the sandbox.
You know what happens in Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies when you can build anywhere you want, and nobody can break your stuff? Yeah, you run out of room to build stuff, and the landscape becomes littered with POS. Then the developers come out with these 1-building per player rules. Yeah Ultima Online guys you know what I"m talking about yeah.
Powerful characters could be controlled by any Joe subscriber, any time they wanted, in the same world as everyone else IF there are 2 completely different sets of rules.
1) First are the normal sets of MMORPG rules for your normal mortal characters. And what do we mortals want? Power, wealth, the best DPS, and maybe a castle on the hill.
2) The second set of rules are for the powerful characters who have 1 goal, to spread their theme. This should put them into contention with other powerful characters who want to spread their theme throughout the world. IN fantasy-fiction that would be good God's vs evil God's. In this game it would be Federation vs. Klingon. Or there could be neutral ones like mutant Gorn or Ferengi Merchants. Guess what, they all have different themes, color schemes, art styles, objects, entities, NPC's, ships; and for some reason in the story they are always in contention. This could be done in real time, without any restrictive rules either.
The normal characters should not be in direct compettion or even direct contact with the alpha-characters
I pretty much agree with all of that.
The Antagonist role I mentioned in a previous post should be a temporary role that's filled during the scenario... the player would not "own" any of the characters... he would simply "wear them" like a suit of clothing that gets taken off at the end of the scenario.
That could allow a Foundry author to create a scenario that can be interacted with, without needing the author to run it each time. The Antagonist simply takes up a predetermined role and uses his Antagonist powers to make the scenario come alive.
The tech would not be trivial at all and the ROI would probably stink. But it would be an innovation that doesn't exist in any MMO I know of.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I think the ability to place entities/buildings/objects/NPC's and control NPC scripts (or even an NPC in person) could be done in the main game without using an instanced Foundry system.
The author controlling one of his characters in a foundry mission would only be interesting to the 1-4 people on a Foundry mission.
Otherwise its like listening to children play," yeah well you have a sword I have a SUPER CANNON I blow you up", "NA AH CANT DO THAT". "Can too" ext ext ext.
But no we don't need a DM in a computer RPG the computer is suppose to be the DM. There is just no game out there which has set up their world to be conducive to helping players create there own stories as a result of "living" in the world. If you've played for years you should be in a position were you've acquired enough to be able to further other peoples in game experiences.
A good example but not one I am recommending for game is, if say you have a bar and you have gotten awesome dancers and done things to get the best food awesome screens and people want to come to your bar, now all those people who have come to your bar are experiencing having a party in game and rockin out and its all because the one player who owns the bar has taken the time to set up something that allowed the other players to be able to experience what they experienced. Its a simple essential idea which doesn't really exist in STO unless your a fleet leader. But theres no need for a DM just an environment that allows for the previously stated concept to have merit on a large scale. Admittedly probably not an overnight task.
Without launching into a long rambling post about why Eve works the way it does, I'll just say that the entire game is PVP in some form or another. That's how you affect the world around you - trading, mining, manufacturing, actual combat.
STO is a game in a closed bottle and as such will not evolve unless the devs change X or Y. Everybody's leveled up to 50, is flying a supercoolguy ship and has wtfpwnface gear. You're out of new things to do and there won't be any new things to do unless the devs implement them.
Meanwhile the EVE team adds a new ship here or there but spends most of their time working on mechanics and 'rules' for lack of a more precise term. A friend of mine flew with a corp that literally broke the Incursion mechanics and got the whole thing revamped. THAT'S how you influence the world around you.
A few more potted plants scattered around, playing virtual chess with virtual people, or sitting around in common areas reading old dusty books isn't going to do anything for immersion or shaping your world.
This is a train set; you will play with your ships and perform these prescribed activities until we include more.
Meanwhile over in Eve, the players have been writing the history of that game for 10 years. Think of some cool stories from your STO experience - all of them are "that time we fought Donatra and..." or whatever. Meanwhile in Eve it's more like "yeah we fitted out ten cruisers and went on a 50-jump roam through enemy territory killing whoever and whatever we found." Or my personal favorite, "yeah I grabbed my Covops ship, flew through ten contested systems, and anchored a container outside the home station of a corporation we were at war with that said 'this can is mocking you.'"
You will not achieve that level of freedom and player-driven evolution in this game. This is a game for trek fans to play with their trek toys; I've seen most of the shows and movies and think some of it was kind of neat, and I play this game to relax and pewpewpew bots while pretending I'm a starship captain (the Foundry has held a great deal of my interest lately). There are clearly-defined boundaries of STO pretend-land and you will not step outside of them.
I'd still be playing Eve if not for the fact that it's so brutal and unforgiving, which is the exact opposite of this game (stupidly easy and no negative consequences for anything whatsoever). But that's WHY you can actually shape the world around you - what you do matters to somebody. One time we bashed down a player-owned customs station for the hell of it; it required a fleet of battleships, a scout, and noobs in frigates to try to tie up the enemy ships for our heavy-hitters. It was an afternoon-long operation and I'm sure as soon as we were done somebody else moved in to fill the vaccuum. The guy on the losing end was out hundreds of millions of credits for the station and the ships we slagged.
Most people in this game don't even PVP. And you want to shape the universe? Heh. You will wait until the next big content release, burn through it all in a day or two, and then be back to square one.
The Foundry at least lets you continue to play a theoretically-unlimited amount of content but the sticking point is that you're still waiting on somebody to make the missions that you then play. You literally cannot just jump in your Defiant and go find some fun.
I'm not bothered by this state of affairs; as I said I play this game to relax and not get all worked up over a video game full of people trying to kill me. But it's foolish to think that this game will ever give people the freedom they're looking for. Again, to hammer the point some more, only EVE really does that because of the fundamental difference in philosophy regarding PVP and player competition.