Quests Again?

[Harwen]

I got this idea from the Dynamic Quests thread I read and I didn\'t really get it, but it seemed unessecarily complicated so yeah, I got this other idea:

How could PC\'s do quests without cheating other characters? Well, I thought of the auction system, ( I know it\'s not finished   ) that is basically on an honor system. So is selling your weapons in MB right now.

But I was thinking if I wanted to get some materials for making me a poweful potion, I could just get me a quick escape route, a dumb newbie, and a convincing quest story and get my item without any hard work or fighting. I also might not have to run away, if the newbie is gullible enough.

I don\'t think that is fair at all, besides realism and possible humor, so I think a menu or form based system is in order. Note: This might be a little shaky right now.

I need 50 bricks of ignot to make a Large Scimitar.

I am busy with my shop since it is newbie rush hour, so I ask one of the more experienced ones to get them for me.

I put the command /createquest , a menu pops up with the following feilds:

   Name of Quest: ***ting Bricks
    Needed Item(s): Ignot Brick 50, [amount2], [amount3]...e.t.c.
    Time Frame: Before I curl up and die would be nice. (or \"230 min\")
    For: People who will recieve reward. (Bobodar, Aineko, e.t.c)
     Continuous?: (Yes/No)
    Reward: 250 tria ( a simple sword, my bleeding heart, e.t.c.)

The Name  of the quest is purely for kicks, the

Needed  items will be seperated by commas if more than one is required, but the real name of each item must be given ( I am sure other restrictions can apply, like unique items and numbers of them).

The time frame  the quest must be completed in; this has the option of timing the quest recipents for things such as races, or just being a jerk with the quest   . Or, it can be jocular or nonexistant.

The For  feild is also optional, as it can be targeted to players anywhere, but they will be alerted when given a quest. If the word \"Everyone\"  is placed here, it is an open ended quest which anyone can complete.

Reward  is the fun part, this is where you put how much money, what items, or both the player(s) get when they complete your quest. The important thing is here, only when the other player brings back the 50 bricks of ignots, and gives them to me using the /questcomplete  command, are the items autmatically traded. As for open ended or muptiple quests, you can keep giving a reward for as long as you have the offered money, or items. In the other case, all players given the quest ( if it is assigned quest) are alerted the item is no longer availible, and the quest dissapears.

 Or if I place Yes in Continuous?  the same player can complete the quest and continue to get a reward from it if he has for example 150 brick of ignots, and gives it to me 3 times.

Also, the quest maker is able to show any player their created and avalible open-ended quests by typing something like /showquests , and the Player can choose which open ended quest to take by doing someting like /acceptquest  the quest now is an assigned quest, but it is still availiable to other players, so this type of quest might be favored by shopkeeps and such as an unlimited number of people can accept and complete these types of quests (thorian gronk, anyone?).

I can think of other useful options such as /closequest  that keeps anyone else from accepting the quest, but still needs to be completed by those assigned. Or /openquest  which will make the quest open to all players who know it\'s name. Of course there is /cancel quest , but as i mentioned, items will not be given automatically. This could all be recorded in the players databases, how many quests completed, or given. A player can use the command /viewquests  to see all the quests they have been assigned. That player can also use the /queststatus  to see the requirements of the quests again.

So what do you think? :]

[Boldstorm]

Wow I like this :tup:
I was also slightly confused trying to figure everything out in the other post.
Got me thinking with your idea. You could also do things to make your quest more intresting possible or side quests to your quest. Maybe add a command /expandquest and that would allow you to add more options to your quest. It could open up another menu similar or the same as the one that opened at the /createquest . You could also use this to maybe add side quests to your current quest. Maybe also have a /questmessage \"Name of Quest\" that would allow you to send messages about your quest to anyone who has already accepted it.

Well whatever but I definetly like your idea. )  )  )

[Axsyrus]

ahh, now this is a good idea! (and much better than davis\' thread, i still don\'t know what he wants )

i would really love to see something like this in the game, although there should be some more things to protect dumb n00bs, like having an NPC that tells you the value of each item so newbies know they shouldn\'t do a quest if the reward is too low, but this is a really good idea  :]

[lynx_lupo]

mmmh, very good! :tup:

I\'d add some reward-give forcing to avoid abuse.

[Fish]

Here?s a system that would work, I like it.  

It might have to be a little more complicated, for instance more options, but it?s the opposite of selling something.  It would also be interesting to be able to put the character in NPC mode and log off.  When the quest is finished the character leaves.  There has to be a mechanism for turning the quest off when you?re character?s resources are played out, otherwise people would do the quest and get nothing.

Possible options

Bonuses for the first people to accomplish the quest.
Winner take all quest.
Straight item purchase, get me the goods you get the cash.
Maximum number of people allowed to take on the quest.
Character prequalification, the character must meet some minimum requirement to take on the quest.

There probably a lot more.  It might be better to have a pop up that manages the quest rather then doing everything at the command line.

[Harwen]

Yes, Fish, I like those options too! I was thinking of more options, but I wrote that in a flaming mad rush because I was upset at the complexity of the other post.  )

The prequalification and the bonus ideas are great. But my system already does the Straight Item Purchase, which I concentrated on. And winner take all can be done by only having one of the reward items, or amount of money. Although  a check box would make that easier to implement, yes.

Here\'s how I thought to implement you ideas:

Bonus:  Simply another menu option that gives you the chace to set first place, second place, third place bonuses.  (maybe in an >>advanced tab that leads to more complex options like this?)

Max Players:  Another option added that would let you indicate a number allowed, or even a minimum number of people that needed to complete the quest.

Prequalification:  Option in advenced tab.... ( or an option for guild rank or to belong to a guild)

I also thought of

Guild Quest:  which would assign an entire guild witha quest, maybe for another guild as a tribute, or as a challange from Talaad or Laanx or someone else...(great for politics) :]

and Party Quest:  you could give a quest to a party, meaning that they would have to defeat something, or maybe a simpler way of assigning multiple people to a quest? Guild Quest is better thought out though. :rolleyes:

I also like your idea of expand quest Boldstorm , though I am not sure about that level of complexity. But your /quest message idea is definetly a must!

[Boldstorm]

I like this idea more and more!
Some of my ideas probably weren\'t thought out the greatest either I was so confused by the other post that when I read yours and it made sense I just started thinking of a few things. Didn\'t work them out the greatest lol.

[Harwen]

That\'s okie Boldstorm! That\'s how my idea came to bear  

I want to thank you guys for staying on topic    )  )  )  !

[seperot]

great idea harwen


quest name: get seperot a sunbed

reward: to fan me all day

[Harwen]

Don\'t push it Sep  

[Tylyu]

Yes, great.

It\'s going the same way the msg I posted on \"Templated Generated Quests\" in that other tread, with kinda scripting, but you\'re adding better interface.

Nice one.

[Fish]

Tylyu whether you?re using a template some interpreted code or a macro they?re very closely the same thing.  Templates generally don?t have logic in them though so I tend to think of it more like a macro.  You set up some environmental variables, write quest structure including comments, then set up the dialogue.  Being able to pull variables from the character that is talking to you like a skill level or a factional rating may be important in determining whether they qualify.  

One problem I see though is if these variables are made available that means you may be able to get more information from a potential client than that client is willing to tell you.  Interesting security problem. I guess it?s in the developer?s best interest not to allow a player-based quest to be scripted but rather have a panel were options are made available.

There should be some basic limits in a player-based quest.  For instance if nobody takes on the quest for two days and you haven?t logged in to check, your player goes out to play. The maximum amount of time before the quester is kicked off the quest is one day.  In order to start the quest and then log off you have to stand in a particular spot, eliminating hideous lag from having players litter the streets with quests.  

Also giving the GM an interface that catalogs the quests to look for ridiculous ones to remove, like you give me a diamond I?ll give you a rat hair. Or possibly not allow any quests without their express permission may be an important feature.  If a player runs a couple of successful quests the GM could change their status.  

I think with any system it?s good to think about how to curb abuse before hand.

[Harwen]

Yes, I agree Fish, it\'s important to realize that the individual gamer, is intelligent and likes a good game. But realistically the individual gamer also has a darkside. Generally gamers are also reckless, violent and inconsierate, as insulting as that may seem. You don\'t have to look far in the fourms to find people like that.

Simple things like automatic item trading when completing a quest, max quests you could make per day or week are a great way of keeping abuse at bay.

Things like coding out quests, and making your own npc\'s are large, stinking gateways for abuse. It might be fun for some people, but the second you can say that you aren\'t thinking about the majority of players, just because one person isn\'t a coding idiot, and will find a system easy, doesn\'t mean it\'s good for everyone.

And I can\'t stress enough how important it is for people to be able to do something \"out of the box\" (i use the term loosley) without having to say the game sucks. I mean, I want to type /questcreate, click six times, type a funny name, and have somone look for materials for me while I am selling short bows and potions to noobs.

Not to downplay your Idea Tylyu, but I guess an idiot-user-friendly system is in order. (not to call anyone an idiot, I can\'t program or code for ****)

[Vengeance]

Obviously, we would want an in-game GUI that is easy to use for this instead of a scripting language, but otherwise I *really* like this idea.  I even like most of the extensions people have suggested here.

a.  List of 1 or more items to turn in
b.  1st, 2nd, 3rd place rewards for \"race games\"
c.  Could be for parties (groups) or individuals.
d.  Rewards could be financial or could be exp points or another item.
e.  Quest definition could include RP items such as name of quest, story behind quest, and quest hints.

- Venge

[Saphire]

Wow, nice dynamic PC quest assignment idea... its like trading, except its like it\'s continual. you could easilly setup a quest where in you require materials and give a quest to a miner to get you said materials. once he has given then to you you give him his reward and he could keep comming back to you with the required item to get the reward...

and what YOU make could be the materials needed for a quest for someone else... and around and around it goes until it comes full circle.


[some quests could require a certain amount of \"quest completion points\" or something, as a filter so anyone above or below or at \"X #\" of quest completion points could do the quest..]