PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: gogg on October 29, 2003, 02:18:31 am
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Wikipedia did a good job on saying the things that are the most trouble for mmorpg dev\'s:
It is impossible for one player to realistically affect the overall state of the world. In a normal RPG, the player or party is the hero and single-handedly saves the world. In an MMORPG, every player can\'t save the world.
Inflation. In many MMORPGs, the economy becomes imbalanced.
Bots. In many MMORPGs, you can set up scripts to play the game, performing the same task over and over again, and reap huge rewards. This lets you build up a powerful character just by letting your computer run unattended. This flaw is built into almost the very essence of a RPG \"leveling\", that your character becomes more powerful primarily by repeatedly killing things. These macroes are forbidden in many of these games, and developers are now fighting back by working on automation detection systems.
Player Killing (PKing). In order for a world to be realistic, players should be able to kill anything, even other players. However, this is very discouraging to new players, who are slaughtered by experienced player killers.
Time Commitment. A character\'s power represents how much time is invested in playing, rather than skill. Again this is due to the \"leveling\" aspect of the game. Being killed is discouraging for casual players, who are interested in 1-3 hours a week without dedicated their entire life to the game. This also leads to the problem that powerful characters and items are sold on eBay.
Pay to play, Pay even more to win. Due to the problems just mentioned, one can receive a great advantage in game by buying another persons\' already powerful character. It is also possible to buy memberships or special items such as those offered by games such as Runescape and Elysaria.
Rude Players. There also is a problem of rudeness by other players. Some MMORPGs discipline nasty players by ensuring that responsible moderators or admins are online at all times.
Scamming. Scamming can also be a problem in many of these games, as players try to break the rules to further enhance their characters.
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that is indeed an excellent dissertation on the basic battles mmorpgs face. Some of them are not really all that important but many are. It will be interesting to see how the devs address some of these issues.