Now, I had an idea, and I'm looking for some feedback. This is for gamers, fans of roleplay, and people simply looking for something to do.
The Problem: I've been playing MMO's for about ten years now, and quite frankly, I'm starting to get bored. Every new game I play, no matter how innovative, or next gen, as they say, turns out to be a rehashing of the same old thing: grind, level, raid, pvp, grind. Oh, and farming. On top of the fact that I feel intellectually unstimulated, there are certain.. negative effects to spending hours on end sitting in a desk chair moving nothing past my elbows. I've been waiting for games to become more.. physically interactive, but unfortunately, it seems we're still quite a few years away from virtual reality, and I'm just not a fan of Wii Fit.
[edit: if you want to skip to paragraphs of rambling, feel free to do so, although who knows? you might find it interesting.]
The Solution: The first ever (as far as I know, and it does seem to me that I've heard of something similar somewhere) Massively Multiplayer Offline Game. Now, if you've had the patience to read this far, you're undoubtably wondering what the hell I'm talking about. First, I don't mean to suggest that we all play the same game offline and e-mail each other about our progress. See, I first got the idea (you could say stole and modified) from a novel I read a while back that I can't actually remember the name of (I may post it later) in which there was a game called Spooks, (you may recognize it if you've read the novel) in which people essentially roleplayed as Spies. To make this clear, there were no computers involved, they went around the city carrying out missions received in cryptic e-mails and phone-calls from their "handlers," who actually worked for the company that had created the game. They interacted with enemy agents that they had never met, and essentially led double lives, first as the regular people that they were, and second as Spooks. You might say it would be the most immersive roleplaying experience ever.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but when I read about this it sounded unbelievably fun. Imagine: getting to be whoever you wanted, living out a second life that you could literally turn on and off at your discretion, all without sitting at a computer. I mean, I've got to wonder how many gamers feel guilty and wind up spending extra hours that the gym, or more accurately, wishing they had, simply because they'd spent six or seven afternoons in a row sitting in the same place, staring at a screen and munching Hot Cheetohs. I'm honestly just getting tired of sitting, myself: I do it all day at school, and then I come back home and do it there too, and walking aimlessly gets boring very quickly.
I'm currently realizing I've rambled a good deal more than I'd intended so let me get to the point. My idea is very similar to Spooks (you'll know what I'm talking about if you didn't skip ahead, and if you did, you should be able to figure it out). A fantasy game (I'm not much of a spy buff) played, rather than at the computer, in real life.
Some of the basic ideas I've had:
Firstly, and most importantly, "players" would need a means of recognizing one another, since they would be out in the real world, in which everyone they saw would not be playing. It would have to be something discreet, but noticeable; that is to say, we would want something easily visible to other players that would not make those playing look ridiculous or really stand out to those who didn't know what was going on. I was thinking something along the lines of a removeable patch or pin; nothing that would permanently attach to clothes, so that a player wouldn't be forced to have a particular gaming "outfit," and since having our names floating above our heads and our guild affiliations in neon green is currently out of the question.. well, you get the point.
Secondly, the quests. From my experience, nothing is more important to a game, be it MMO, in which they allow you to progress, or a solo RPG, in which they further the story itself, than the quests. I've thought of several potential "quest types" already, and I'd love to hear more ideas, but here's what I've got.
The Scavenger Hunt: We've all done it in game, and let's face it, it isn't terribly rewarding, because in-game, this type of quest means walk to the place on the map, right click the thing that gives you a special icon, walk back, receive reward. In this case, it would be a bit more traditional: the quest giver would provide a general, often cryptic description of the location of a particular item or items, and the player would be tasked with finding and retrieving it for a reward.
Complete a Task: Wow. That was vague. Well, essentially what I mean by that is, the player would be asked to do something by the quest giver, they would do it, and receive a reward for doing so. Perhaps a guy's buddy needs help completing a mystic ritual that involves heavy rocks. You help him put said heavy rocks into a position that he indicates.. (a magic circle, perhaps?) and, what a surprise, receive a reward! Sounds like oodles of fun to me. Good exercise too.. gotta work those biceps.
The Challenge: Well, simply put, in this category, the quest giver would challenge the player to do something. Perhaps it's a riddle. If you know the secret to the whole thing about one guy who always lies and one guy who always tells the truth, you may be a step ahead. Perhaps it's a foot race! If you can beat the skinny dude from point A to point B, you get a reward! And why not? It's a great reason to work on that stamina.
I'm sure there are a myriad of other possibilities, but that's what I've come up with so far. As far as the quest givers go, I've considered both the possibility of posting the quests online, or perhaps e-mailing them to people individually, but I think the most fun (and RP oriented idea) would be to task certain people, be they players or not, with being "npc's" for a certain amount of time. Perhaps they would get a special badge, so that the players would be able to recognize that they were NPCs; after all, floating yellow exclaimation points are out of the question.. unless you get one of those hats.
I've also considered the need for some form of a combat system. Now obviously, for several reasons, we can't have players running around stabbing each other with dirks, wailing upon each other with clubs, or even attempting to throw fireballs at each other (although I'd really like to see that one, and if you have a video...). First of all, in a very short time we'd run out of players (there are no respawn points in real life, and I don't know any clergymen who have figured out rezzing yet), and second of all, there would probably eventually be someone who survived, and then we'd have lawsuits on top of the murder trials. We definitely need something non-violent, and I don't think people really want to go about holding retracting daggers, rubber knives, and foam swords. The simplest, albiet perhaps most nerdy solution that I could come up with is a card-based system... with some physical aspects thrown in.
For example, supposing first that there was a class system, and that within that system there was a rogue class, and that you had picked it, it might be logical to suppose that you had a backstab ability, represented by a backstab card. Perhaps you were given a quest to kill a particular NPC, and that ability was the most expedient manner of doing so. What you might do, in order to successfully execute a backstab, would be to come upon said "NPC" without their knowledge, and simply, with the hand holding the card, tap them on the back. They would then turn around and look first surprised, then dismayed, now fully aware that they had been backstabbed. (Time to go get that reward!) A pickpocketing ability might work similarly, save that one might have to avoid rear- and breast-pockets (for the ladies) as this might result in sexual-harrassment suits.
These are only ideas. If you have better ones, I would love to hear from you. That's what this post was for. I would love for anyone to e-mail me with ANY questions, suggestions, or ideas, and to hear if they've heard of anything similar, and if so, how it was implemented, was it successful, etc. I can be reached at JAHarshman@roadrunner.com, and I plan to check this page frequently for comments. Hell, I'd love to hear if you simply think that this is a good idea, and that it would be something that you might enjoy doing. I want to make this happen, but I won't bother if I think that I'll be spending my time running around the city, completing my own quests and occasionally slapping myself with a card. ;- )
-Akeley
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