Open Player Interview

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?


How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?


What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?


Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?


How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?


Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?


What area of development do you find the most important, why?


What do you think the team should do to get more people?


What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

[Akkaido Kivikar]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
More 'citizen' type characters. The current system tends to heavily lean people towards fighting, magic, or weapon/armour crafting.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
I think it all depends on how the new quest system develops. Perhaps having an extra quest scripted in when you hit a certain faction level, leading to you being accepted into the faction would be cool. As for the faction itself, well I don't know what being in it could offer.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
RP properly. At the moment, most of them don't.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
It has plenty of options. It would help if Settings details were available on some sort of official wiki, modified only by Settings devs, so I can differentiate between real Settings and hearsay, without spending hours shuffling around the cramped, disorganised library.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
I'm not sure, ut it would be nice to see good RP rewarded IC'ly.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
I think stat/skill maxes should be more dynamic in how they cap. The stronger someone is as a fighter, the harder it would be for them to learn crafting, as IRL you can't be an awesome blademaker AND an awesome martial artist.... only a certain amount of memory in the average human. you can be good at one and alright at the other, but usually a person is only good at one thing at a time.

What area of development do you find the most important, why?
Getting more races modelled, and more maps/cities available, and adding more to the outdoor [edit: out of city] maps, as they're quite bland.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?
Perhaps be less IN/OUT. Involve the players more, be less 'official', and think more about what will eventually get you from A to B, rather than playing development phases defensively.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
If you had more of a developer/player mix, so developers have time to relax and play, and players were developing, the reward of seeing the game's development speed up, and new exciting things getting put in, and also the reward of seeing what you make in the game would be reward enough.

[kaerli2]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

I want the flexibility to develop whatever comes to mind and imagination, within the Settings of course.   Also, more citizenry would be nice.


How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

I think that we need more feedback from the faction system into quests; however, we have to balance this with testability concerns.


What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

Well, people have a very narrow view of the term "powerful" first off: by stats alone, Kaerli is not my most powerful character, for instance.  Also, we need a better way to communicate the answers to questions such as "How are you smart?" and "How are you agile?" in addition to "How smart are you?" and "How nimble are you?"; a simple number cannot answer the former.


Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

No, not at all; I find them quite nice to work in, actually.


How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Flip this on its head: we need game mechanics that roleplayers are more able to utilize without interfering with expressing the story of their character.


Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

Well, stats should follow a roughly normal distribution, and the PS stat system does nothing to communicate that to players.  Skills, on the other hand, are a trickier issue, because there's this thing that we can call "research" that has to be kept up with in any given area.


What area of development do you find the most important, why?

We need 'em all.


What do you think the team should do to get more people?

Like Akkaido said, be less IN/OUT.  I understand that it's hard to avoid in some areas (Settings and Rules in particular); however, leveraging the bazaar model more would be quite beneficial as many potential developers are scared off by the bureaucracy in the PS team.


What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

See above.


Additional comments: If at all possible, we should factor animation from modeling (several models with the same skeletal structure should be able to share animations...)

[/quote]

[Candy]

I haven't read the others' answers yet, so forgive me if mine sound same-y.

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

I want to be able to develop interesting, mostly-realistic (let's face it, it's not realistic to be able to use magic. Hence the "mostly".) characters that, personally, I feel like I know without being too attached to. I want to develop characters that other people want their characters involved with. I'm fairly content with my current characters - I have a huntress/cook that lets her emotions get the best of her despite trying to be a 'tough girl', a painfully shy potter, a slightly deluded eleven year old, and a middle-aged priestess who has a pipe-smoking habit. I'd like to be able to customize these characters to look like their descriptions say they do, but I won't complain, since I don't currently have the skills to offer to bring about that change.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

As it stands, I don't mind the whole gaining factions through quests thing. I think certain NPC's should completely shun you if you have -x faction in their race or profession or religion, or give you better rewards and/or react to you more kindly if you have +x faction with them, and maybe even give you harmful or completely useless rewards if you have negative factions but quest for them anyway.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

They should be able to lift more, take out stronger mobs, cast more spells. Mechanics-wise this already works.

However, most of the characters that are currently powerful mechanics-wise tend not to be roleplayers.

What I want to see in powerful characters in PlaneShift is a gradual gain of that power, and less Sue-ish-ness. I guess I'm just kind of reiterating the whole more 'mostly-realism' thing here.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

Not necessarily. I don't mind that my character can't come from another world or can't be a vampire or is allergic to gold. I do kinda mind having to shy away from naming my character's hometown, because maybe there is no town populated mostly by Diaboli that has a bakery her parents run in the Settings Team's plans, because perhaps I just didn't feel like making a character born in Gugrontid, Hydlaa, or Ojaveda, and because I kind of like being able to say her brother was a guard there. But once more small towns are implemented (I assume at least some are planned), I'm fairly sure this will be alleviated for future characters, since I'll have more places I could work into a character's background.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Good roleplay is so subjective, in my opinion, that mechanics can't quite support it except for, say, setting a alignments and professions and such (an adjustable one, since well-played characters do change over time), and rewarding you somehow when your good character gets faction in good, or your scholar does a quest for Jayose, or your politically ambitious character does a favor for a Vigesemi. I don't know how that'd work with player characters (maybe a voting system for whether or not someone should be rewarded? Except that'd be easy to exploit). At this very moment, I'm a little too tired to elaborate and refine that idea, but there's probably a whole other thread there. To be honest, I'm not likely to make that thread, so feel free to snag it.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

No.

It only encourages people to "max" all the skills with a "beat the game" mindest - which is fine for the non-RP server, but I play primarily on Laanx and am talking about what I want there. Yet, even for the powerlevelers, this would make the game more interesting, since that way they can constantly strive to be the best and it'd be even more of a "Who-Has-The Most-Patience-To-Grind-All-Their-Free-Time-Away" contests.

I have no suggestions for how I'd fix this or ideas for an alternative system at the moment, so once again, I won't complain.

What area of development do you find the most important, why?

They're all important. My main issue here, personally, is that it's too easy to get lost in-game. Even a simple compass would help.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?

Okay, for this one, I did peek at the other posts. And I agree with those, but have nothing of my own to add; I don't really know the first thing about recruiting.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

I think to keep them motivated, the players need to really cut down on the complaining (yes, I'm guilty of whining a bit myself), and give more positive, constructive feedback, as well as help out where they can (reporting bugs and such).

[Keldrena]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
More everday folks. I can't really play my seamstress character with mechanics at all.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
Factions should exist, but there should be a way to reverse them Reversing should be harder than getting them in the first place though. If bad faction got you attacked and barred you from trading with certain NPCs, that would be nice. High faction with creatures should enable you to tame them.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
I'm not really intwerested in playing an all powerful character, so i don't have a good answer.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
No, I like the setting. I'd like to know more about the home worlds though and maybe far in the future be able to leave the stalactite.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
I don't have a vision for this.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
I don't have a real opinion on this because I'm not into grinding.


What area of development do you find the most important, why?
Engine and art right now, but I realize that there is lack of people for it. Settings could stand to be expanded more often and in an easier to access manner,.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?
Recruit at roleplaying forums. That's were you'll find the more of the target audience. A lot of people on them game, but would like to be able to roleplay in a game as well.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
Send cookies?

[Tadano Hitoshi]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
All kinds. As others have said, normal people in addition to heroic (or dastardly) types is good. If everyone`s a hero there`s no one to save. I do think that we need `baddie` player-characters as well as good. Another point, mentioned countless times on the boards, is player-characters in public-positions...though I think the Octarchial Society for Progress is a move in this direction.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
Faction-specific quests opening up/closing off due to your ratings, and bonuses relevant to the factions you have...If you have a high faction rating with merchants you get a discount when buying goods (and if you`ve got good Merchant and Enkidukai faction ratings then you get a really good discount from Jirosh and other Enki merchants, etc) and can charge a higher price when selling (or vis-versa, if your Ylian faction is negative then you`ll get a raw deal from Harnquist). This would be one way to spark city-to-city trade since a merchant character could buy goods cheaper in Oja and sell for higher prices in Hydlaa. A high rating with one religion might grant discounts (both monetary and PP) when training with their priests. Good mining faction again grants better selling prices (which should also be modified by the quality of the product).

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
It rather depends in what way they are powerful (and I don`t want people who are all-powerful). I`d like to see characters who as they become powerful gain influence (thought I hasten to add that this power should come as a result of roleplay predominantly rather than grinding). If it`s a baddie (stereotypical dark knight or the like) then it would be nice for them to actually be able to beat city guards. If they`re a politician they might be able to command guards, hob-knob with high-society in events that commoners cannot attend.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
Not at all. I think it`s the other way round. The settings are there for you to use and make a character that fits them. If you want to play a character that doesn`t fit the settings: either reconsider or take your glowing-eyed dragon-ninja to another game.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
Exceedingly difficult to monitor in my opinion. As it is I like the rewards for GM events. The fact that as soon as players see a GM tag or a usually static NPC wandering about they flock to it is the main sticking point. Rather than possessing NPCs, if the GMs used more characters who aren`t obviously GMs...? More GMs would also help this, but then again we generally need more people in all positions.
I`ll just add that I do think that the OSP is a good step toward rewarding roleplaying groups.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
I`m not sure how others feel but maxing really isn`t a big issue for me. So long as I can get stats/skills to reflect my character (and they are rarely individuals who excel in any particular field) I`m happy. I do agree that, as others have said, there should be a loss/gain balance to prevent people being the best at everything. Then again, if PS changed to a class-based system that`d probably cause more complaints (and wouldn`t stop the inevitable race to max-level fighter-class).

What area of development do you find the most important, why?
Primarily completing the race models. Secondarily more locations.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?
Be more open to the players...as others have said.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
Roleplay to our best ability without being too judgemental of others` styles of (role)play.

[Sen]

> What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
Like some others who posted here do I like more or less normal inhabitants who follow a life in Yliakum.

> How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
Factions is is not a big topic for me and just a way to make the game (npcs) behave differently to different chars... no specific thoughts on it and less that can be easily implemented.

> What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
Kill an ulber but not much more.

> Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
I don't feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition for characters.

> How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
I wonder if that is a serious question. I don't see a way that PlaneShift's mechanics can reward roleplaying - anything mechanics-wise, if implementable, would get exploited for raster progression (includes item-gathering). Right now it looks like this has to be a human's task.

> Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
A system where it just gets increasingly difficult to advance sounds interesting to me. Introducing one would probably mean a lot more of imbalancing, so I wouldn't do that quickly. Correctly balanced would it be better than setting a fixed limit higher and higher in time, and it may keep people trying to progress, and not stop at the point they reached the maximum.

> What area of development do you find the most important, why?
Art seems to need the most work compared to other, though no more maps in my opinion because there are not enough players to fill them. For more specific things I can certainly come up with a wishlist 

> What do you think the team should do to get more people?
Agreeing to the previous posts...

> What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
That depends on the developer's goals and wishes aswell on what they dislike most... Better feedback to their work in general (and that most appreciate) sounds like a right thing though.


Sen

[Kronwag Gheargh]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
Same answer than previously. For now, it seems to me than apart of the digger-fighter-mage-weapon crafter, game mechanics tends to be somewhat restrictive. But also I think it is perhaps because of the not-yet-implemented mechanics (crafts mainly), so I am not sure there is really a need there.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
Same type of answer than before, should influence the way NPC interact with you and open quests (or integration in administrations, guards or whatever). I think the same with Charisma, which could balance the faction score, as even with a bad faction score, a charismatic character could manage interaction. So a charismatic merchant with good faction points in his specialities could really make good income.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
It depends of what you mean by powerful. If it is to be able to kill an Ulbernaut in one strike, or get back your HP to max in one spell, it is only game mechanics, and see after my thoughts about stats etc. If it means a RPing player which has achieved a good reputation inside the game, somewhat famous, well known or involved in promoting RP for the whole community (for me Illysia is a good example to me), I think it should be able to get in game rewards (a house, specific items to help him in his RP,NPC servants...) but I think anyway it is already more or less the case, as this type of players are certainly involved in GM events.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
The setting is very nice to me and from what I can guess, there is still many good things to come. But character generation is a bit old perhaps and not-race specific which can lead to weird things and non-sense generation when we start. I don't know the ideas for future about character generation but I think it should be the occasion to promote the setting and help the player to create a character more correctly settled in the setting.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
I think to give PP and factions points, like quest, as it is a bit weird to have to go and kill monsters and rogues to be able to let your character evolve. Of course you don't need to raise stats and skills to be able to RP, but I think it is better if your stats can evolve,as your capacities (to be in adequation with your RP also), so you have to gather PP a way or another. And doing the quests again and again with new characters seem to be a bit OOC sometime, even I love this system to discover the world and setting.Perhaps some players could be granted the ability to vote for a PP gift to other players (some sort of light version of GM? dedicated to promoting RP by giving RP to good players).

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
I am not for a maximum, even I think it is obvious it must be more and more difficult to raise in high levels. But also, as stated before by some other players, there should be for a way to prevent the raising of everything, as you can't be a super-expert in everything. Perhaps letting people know that they can't have more than one craft over 100, 5 over 75, 10 over 50, 20 over 25 (or something like this) could be a solution. WIth the possibility to lower a craft to" forget it" if you want to raise another one, to let the character evolve. Like this, you can change of job, and remember the good old day when you were a fierce fighter or a good smith...
I would recommend also maximum stats and skills according to race, or better to me, PP cost different according to race (and perhaps gender)

What area of development do you find the most important, why?
First of all, art and equipment, items. I think it is a pity to see all the fighters with same armors and same helms everywhere. You can't differentiate high level character from another as they all look the same. And it is a bit annoying not to be able to buy different types and style of items (perhaps with different characteristics) from NPC merchants.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?
Perhaps to have semi-associated team members. I take me as en example, I can't spend a lot of time and it is very erratic. But I would be happy to contribute on a light basis. With a light schedule (but strict, as I think for you it would be the hell other way), and on less important thing, you could like this focus on the core of the developpment.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
Enjoy the work done and not always complaining 
To be honest, how can we answer to this question ? The problem is that the people who are happy with what they have and try to do their best to enjoy the place are certainly not the ones devs can read here. We only speak about out-of-schedule trains, never of on-time ones.

[Rigwyn]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

 - It might be nice to be able to have subservient characters - similar to pets. The idea being that you could command these characters to do things like mine, craft, spy, guard or whatever. To make it legal they might have to be called *employees* or  *apprentices* .

 - It would be interesting if a character could possess other characters. ( ie. a physically weak mage might possess an Ulbernaut forcing it to attack a stronger player )

 - would be nice to be able develop a shadow caster or illusionist, perhaps a character that can curse or sicken others

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

- I agree with what was said earlier - a faction mismatch with a vendor should affect the price your charged for good and training to some extent.  Perhaps if you complete a quest for a certain npc then that npc should treat you differently - ie. they might agree to sell you items that they wont sell to anyone else.

- I would like to see religious faction points have some effect as discussed in another thread.  Perhaps one strongly aligned with Laanx could call on h(er|im) during battle. They would spend some earned *divinity points* on a chance at getting a lucky blow at their opponent.  One aligned with Xiosia might be able to spend their divinity points on a chance at evading an attack or at charming someone .. etc..

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

I don't think making characters more powerful should be encouraged. Its leads to more training/grinding  and perhaps less interaction..  Perhaps it would be better to focus more on how to better enable players to act as a group to accomplish a task .

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

 - Information about some religions appear to be somewhat sparse. I think it might be easier to follow a given religion if there was more info on how to do it. Perhaps have some books that detail rites, rituals, attitudes and perhaps superstitions that a follower should hold, etc... 

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

 - I think the current limitations are realistic though it would make sense if there was a limitation on how many abilities one could max. For example, let a player attain a total of 1000 stat points instead of 1200. ( raise the stats maximum to 300 each and allow 1300 out of 1800 stat points total )

What area of development do you find the most important, why?

 - Currently I think it would nice to see a unique character model for each race and gender. I don't think PS needs more towns right now because IMHO I think Yliakum is a bit under populated. Would also be nice to see some larger beasts - ones that a group of players could attack together ( while weaker players could gang up on an Ulber they would die off in a single hit .. ).

What do you think the team should do to get more people?

- Perhaps offer an in-game incentive ( tria, recognition, An opportuniny to sit on Xiosia's lap and read her your X-Mas list  XD ) for players that draw players from other games. This would of course require certain limitations in order to keep abuse minimal.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

- This sounds more like a question for the developers. What motivates them ? What can players to do show their appreciation ?

[Illysia]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

Tradesmen. It is well on it way, but I think maybe people need to think more about it so that they can RP it even when the skill isn’t implemented. Do research! I think it would be nice for players that bother to RP unimplemented skills to contribute ideas for the “settings” surrounding the skill. For instance, the Enkidukai tailors could come together and brainstorm idea for traditional enki clothing. But it would have to be based on what already exists as settings, no making stuff up on the fly. :p

Maybe they would get together in the forums and come up with stuff or submit their research. This might make it easier for others to start RPing those trades. I personally did a lot of Googling and Wiki reading to RP my brewer character. I know a fair bit more now than I did about making beer, wine, and liqueurs… Maybe if I shared the results of my research others would follow.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

I think factions should effect what quests you get and what kind of rewards you get from the quest… Guards shouldn’t be rewarding people with low law faction well, if at all. XD I basically like it as is, but I do think that Charisma should affect how many faction points you get at a time though.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

Depends on how you define powerful what the framework is for what they could do.

For Stats:
If it is very strong, as in high Strength stat, maybe have a boost to their trained skills that rely more on physical things. And then they would be able to do more physical things easier without extensive training.

If strong in Will they might get a boost in the more repetitive skills like mining as it would take a strong will to make good use of the time used up, or maybe it would be the opposite. Maybe strong will would make the repetitive tasks more mind numbing and thus hard for a strong willed person. This would allow for maybe better success with mining without having to grind mining so long or maybe repair armors easier or perhaps the very opposite and it would work to make it harder.

Maybe high intelligence would provide extra boost problem solving skills or skills requiring more thought like lock picking or alchemy. This might add a level boost and make it easier or allow people to see potion recipes a few levels earlier or pick locks more successfully than say someone just training these things from an average level of intelligence.

For the Ways:
If they are really strong in a particular Way, maybe they will start to get an extra boost to their spells in that Way and casting other spells in other ways would be next to useless as they would get a severe drop in other ways(kinda like a debuff). They would still be able to train the skills but it wouldn’t translate into a power affect from those spells in the other ways. This would allow them to be quite powerful in a way but there would be a checks and balances system

If someone were to still manage to become well trained in multiple ways then effect would be the same but with less pronounced boosts to the high ways with each way mastered.

If all ways were mastered then there could be an overall boost to the ways and to intelligence but with pretty severe strength and charisma drop as the time and effort needed to pull off such as thing would greatly hamper getting out and getting exercise and social interaction.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

I personally have no problem with this but I can see where “baddie” characters could have a problem. While I see the need for such characters I do think there should definite limits to the characters. Nothing is more irritating than starting a game and then 5 mins later having done nothing but gotten looted 20 times because every passing person has the theiving skill. I think people get a little too eager to be on the “wrong side of the law” and they forget to be reasonable.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

I think incorporating information about the character and maybe their exploits into settings and quests would be a good way. Maybe the people(NPCs) of Hydlaa would become familiar with person and a player could ask about the other player the same way they can ask about certain NPCs.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

Yes, it would be a mess if people could train a skill infinitely. Some people would do just that and I think it would cause imbalances.


What area of development do you find the most important, why?

I think Settings is the most important even though I like a lot of other areas. Technically you can RP with nothing but text so the visual and mechanical parts are nice but the core of the game is the RP. It provides the details that make up the framework that RPers work from and allow for harmonious RPs as everybody can work from the same information instead of everybody making up their own thing and we will see which ones actually fit together.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?

To get more people the team would have to let people run with their ideas more and that could have mixed results as many people would try to turn PS into yet another WoW clone and that would not be good. >.>   

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

Maybe we could have Dev appreciation days. And maybe spend the day thanking the devs and not complaining… I think devs would appreciate the not complaining more.

[LigH]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

Uhm ... I don't understand this question. I can develop any kind of character, regarding roleplaying.

Or did you mean regarding game mechanics? ... Well, "Gag" always just wanted an own potion shop. And I am confident of getting such a chance "sooner than (tm)".

-- P.S.: "PlaneShift is a roleplaying supporting game." So why is there such a strong bias towards fighting character types in the quick char selection? ... Possibly because real roleplayers use the custom creation anyway?
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How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

It would be funny to see some kinds of opponents stampeding at my sight because I have such a bad faction due to my kill score...

Enabling or disabling certain quests is obviously already supported.
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What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

Levitation, teleportation, faster running ... one moment, where did I put my Marvel comics?
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Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

Here I'd like to point to Stonehead Tavern - Roleplay Lesson 1: In the beginning, stay away from complexity. Don't start as superhero already. One of the best suggestions also to avoid settings violations: Starting as not yet completely designed character gives you best chances to adapt it as compromise between settings and desires.
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How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Hmm, how could the game measure how famous a character is? By counting its "backlinks" (how many chars have one listed as buddy)? By counting how often their name is mentioned in any public talk? By its online duration?

How could the definition of a character be measured at all? By the size of its character description?

Somehow I fear, no matter how you select characters worth any rewards for playing consistently and being popular: The result would be everyone yelling "Unfair!"...
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Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

I don't mind the existence of a maximum. I rather mind the fact that physical skills are "only theory, no practice" in the training progress.

Don't I get stronger by carrying weight? Don't I get more agile by dodging attacts? Don't I get more enduring by running long distances?
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What area of development do you find the most important, why?

The most important part of development is the entirety of the game. A game is meant to be fun. Developing only parts of it will bring it out of ballance.
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What do you think the team should do to get more people?

Convince.

Not beg. Not persuade. Just show that it is worth it.

"Amok decisions", a lack of communication, and "ego trips" - all that just spoils the efforts.
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What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

Being a little part of the development too, I can state that recognising my work in game while playing is already a great motivation for me. I really hope that most developers still play, too.

Developers make the game worth playing. I hope that players can make the game worth developing as well.

[PhoenixRizin]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?
I like warriors, but there should be more opportunities for crafters and merchants. I think if the crafting end (tailoring, medicine, working shields etc) is improved, then there will be more merchant opportunities as well, as right now mining and smithing is the major way to get tria.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?
I like the current system. There just needs to be a better way to share resources (tria, weapons, etc) since getting a guildhouse appears to be darn near IMPOSSIBLE!!!

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
Beat up weaker characters.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?
No. The environment is good, and as it grows it will provide more opportunities for different kinds of characters.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?
Not sure if mechanics can do this, as there would need to be a way to identify those kinds of players and that will create conflict as to what amounts to roleplaying consistancy and popularity. I think good roleplay is a reward in itself, and trying to make this reward system will only make problems. If you want to create more roleplay, the game needs things that makes the characters unique. And I've touched on them in other questions but examples are tailoring plus more clothes selections, herbs and medicine, jewelery crafting, engraving, dyeing, etc. As far as new clothes, i'd like to see bracers and belts implemented, and perhaps new items like masks which can fall under light armor and would gear towards players that dont want to wear helmets. I know this is a lot of stuff but just throwing out some ideas (some of which may be getting worked on as we speak) as I think things that make players characters feel unique will encourage them to play as such.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?
For physical skills, perhaps if one wishes to go beyond the max then improvment in crafts or fighting also improve these skills ie if a character is a smith, as they smith more and more they get a very slight bonus in STR and WIL, mages get a slight bonus when they use magic in INT and CHA, tailors would get INT and WIL, etc. For all stats, perhaps after the regular maxes are reached players can have a series of 3 or so lengthy quests for each stat, where completion gets you a final "legendary" status in that field and an extra 50 pts in it, so that a legendary smith for instance could make Q400 or Q500 blades.

What area of development do you find the most important, why?
Crafting as I've explained in the first question, as well as completing the character models and providing more clothing items. I place clothing so high because if characters start to look less and less alike, I think it will make it easier to separate those characters into unique personalities with unique styles and hence improve RP.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?
If the team works on the game experience, then more players will come. And by that I mean that this game doesnt have to look or behave like WarCraft or PerfectWorld or any other MMORPG. Heck, I even like the simplicity of the graphics (though improvements are not discouraged at all). What I mean is that the experience of this game is unique to any other I've tried, and so anything that builds on that player interaction will make it stand out and invite more players. Think of it like this: Nintendo Wii looks way more elementary compared to X-Box or Playstation, but sell way more. Its all in the user experience. So the things that get added to improve that will naturally draw more players.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?
Continue to play the game. The more that play and enjoy, the more worthwhile it is. Also I hope the devs play and interact with players within the game, as this is the best way to see their work in action and understand the players' concerns.

[Timmothy Perriwinkle]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

Generally anything that is not the current fighter, mage, blacksmith. I'm trying to do an authory character ingame, but mechanics don't currently seem to support my ideas fully (read: PLAYER HOUSING)

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

Like has already been previously said, if you're a known criminal or something, chances are you'd get a big boot out of someone's store. I'd like to see the decisions made ingame actually have some effect on your character. (read: JAILTIME ACTUALLY HAS NEGATIVE EFFECTS)


What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?
Slightly less than the average character can now.


Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

Yes. Not because of setting itself (though it very well might be) because I don't know it well. Not many actually do, because there's no way to learn it.

Don't say go to the library. The library's a disorganized mess that one can waste hours reading and still not have the information they want.

Give us a wiki, or an alternitive that's quick and organized so people can actually learn things that their character should already know without wasting hours and destroying RPs.


How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Unless you can whip up a full AI that can make the guards patrol and act on crimes in a human-like fashion, then no, I don't envision this. Consistent RP is its own reward, and enforcing of that in an IC (or at times OOC) seems to be lacking. (read: KADA'S. 'NUFF SAID)


Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

Everyone has their maximums, that's only realistic. It's the all-encompassing maximums and the fact that you can max in EVERYTHING that's the problem. Training one thing should inhibit your ability to do another.

Also, on a related note, if you don't practice a skill in a long time I think it should gradually decrease. It wouldn't be as hard to get it back up as it was initially, but I think it's a good thing. Everyone gets rusty.


What area of development do you find the most important, why?

I don't consider RP development because it's the responisiblity of the players (sorry, I hate GM events). I want art. I don't want art of cities, and more wilderness, I want all models completed, then customization options (I realize that current resources for this are slightly lacking, but that was hardly the question)

What do you think the team should do to get more people?

Build a unique game. Like google exhibits on a regular basis, if you create the best, the best will come to you.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

We can't. If a dev is going to quit, a dev is going to quit. If a dev is going to emo, a dev is going to emo. I can't understand people who are all "I quit because of whiners not appreciating my work."

Sorry, but whenever I hear that I call BS. I've done things for wide audiences before and was severely underappreciated for them. It didn't matter, the creation was it's own reward and I invited others to partake in it. If they don't like it, their loss. If I need the attention and love from everyone, making an Open Source MMO is not the best choice.

[/quote]

[Elady]

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Not sure if this would be strictly considered game mechanics but here is my idea.  When there are events try to incorporate established RP'ers into the event when possible.  For example at the end of the recent engraving event everyone retried to the Broken Door Tavern for drinks and conversation. If the engraving event had happened in Gug then it would have been nice to have everyone go up to the Stonehead for drinks and conversation.  Instead of needing a GM or Dev to run the NPC bartender let the regular PC's do what they normally do. Or if the engraving had happened in Hydlaa then have people go to the Red Crystal afterwards. As has been said RP is it's own reward, still getting a wink and a nod every once in a while by having regular RP'ers incorporated into events when ever possible would be nice. Also instead of needing GMs or Devs to run every major character in an event if regular PCs can be incorporated might make having events easier.

[Duraza]

What types of characters do you want to be able to develop within PlaneShift?

Well generally I like darker characters and I'd probably stick with that. I do like having normal characters like merchants, priests, and such. Perhaps being able to play a government involved character would be nice.

How do you think factions should develop and what types of advantages/disadvantages do you think those should provide to a character?

If you are high with merchant faction, you might get nice things to sell to the people from the best crafters (because they suspect you a good salesperson), high with the cutthroats and they might not attack you, low with ublers for attacking them so often and they gang up on you.

What do you want a powerful character to be able to do in PlaneShift?

A lot....But not just by training or by RPing to be powerful. Real powerful characters would be helpful and a nice addition to the game if given by GMs and able to do much more than the normal character can without it all basically being made up. Maybe GMs give someone the power to be a guard, which would be a powerful character but a highly useful character considering the complaints players give out. Yes, favoritism, yatah yatah, I don't care. Favoritism is good.

Do you feel that PlaneShift's setting is an imposition on your ability to generate the character you want to make, what could be done to alleviate this if so?

Yes, just tell us more about the settings. If there isn't much done I understand. If there are some things that are done but not revealed please tell us. If you are worried about the fact that once its open everyone will act to know about it don't. Everyone is going to do that anyways, no matter what way you decide to drop the info on us. Its better than everyone making up facts and having them be the truth instead.

How do you envision the game's mechanics might reward roleplaying consistency, or well made and popular characters?

Its not possible. If game mechanics could be built to reward RP then PlaneShift would be a real life simulator and probably the best. If you want RP and game mechanics to mesh something has to work to connect them. GMs don't have the time to walk in game all day and do stuff, its been said before. However, players do. Things like the OSP = that reward. Do more of it.

Do you enjoy the fact that there is a maximum level of physical skill you can reach? Do you enjoy that there is a cap on how skilled you can be with a craft?

Everything should have a maximum. No one should be able to reach every maximum. Races should probably have their own individual maximum. No one is as strong as the strongest Kran or Ynnwn etc. Then from there, I may be Ynnwn but because of my character creation while I am pretty strong I'm much better at endurance and will, my strength pretty low for a Ynnwn, yatah yatah.


What area of development do you find the most important, why?

If settings is underdeveloped please develop it more and get info out to the players. If not, go for something like the game mechanics. There are a lot of problems with a lot of things but ignore them and instead put out the new features. At least, that way we have everything, regardless of how buggy it might be. Then you fix stuff. Having just crafting and fighting kinda throws all things out of balance.

What do you think the team should do to get more people?

I honestly don't know. I suppose as things get better more people will show up. If you mean more people on the game mechanics side of things perhaps make the mechanics something other than what you see in other games? Our grind looks different but why work for PlaneShift when I might get payed working for improving the WoW grind? Make it unique.

What do you think you as a player or fan of PlaneShift can do to keep developers motivated to deliver these wishes to you?

There's probably a million different things we can do to show our appreciation and with every new idea we come up the sincerity behind some of the 'Thank You's' and such will just decrease. Players can continue to search for bugs and such to help you, whether that will keep you motivated I don't know. Maybe seeing players using the mechanics you created and the settings you wrote in game will be enough.

To me if you need some kind of motivation other than the goal of creating PS then ask for it in the form you need it. I can't see me making a thread every month saying "Thank You Devs' as a great motivator but to someone it might be. Perhaps for some of you the amount of times we 'whine' on the forums being cut down would be enough