How brilliant would a STALKER MMORPG be?

[DoomUK]

Just a random thought/brainfart.

You can just picture yourself playing as a STALKER in The Zone, battling with other players over artifacts and/or fighting off bloodsuckers and zombies co-operatively.

Would be highly cool :)

It would certainly educate me as to what all the fuss about MMORPGs is.

[crainger]

It would be very cool.

I could tell you all to "Get out of here STALKERs!".

[LORD-eX-Bu]

it would probably turn out like Tabula Rasa and suck ass.

[jcrox]

:thumbdwn:

I for one refuse to pay money so that I can play a game that I paid for.

[LORD-eX-Bu]

alot of MMOs have adopted the "free-to-play" model :POKE:

[jcrox]

alot of MMOs have adopted the "free-to-play" model :POKE:

Oh wow, I wasn't aware. FPS MMORPG... hmmmm

:thumbdwn: :thumbdwn: :thumbdwn: :thumbdwn: :thumbdwn: :thumbdwn:

[Unstable_Hero]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/17/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-creators-seriously-considering-an-mmog/

I hope so. ;)

[LORD-eX-Bu]

In much the same way that Elder Scrolls games are like Everquest without stupid people, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sort of reminded us of Anarchy Online without the crushing, ever-present stench of failure.

:udawg:

[SH64]

NO!
Please keep it SP FPS.

[bob saget]

well, the STALkER atmosphere would be cool i guess...since its pretty addicting, but I for one stick to FPSs.

[spirited1]

I don't understand why people think a dev team that made a successful single player game could go on to make a half decent mmo. I see this a lot. And I think the dev teams that think they can do this are more often than not biting off more than they can chew. There are very, very few teams that are good at more than one genre (Square rocks, and were succesful with FFXI, but Ergheiz and Dirge of Cerberus? Urgh). Nice levelling system in Oblivion :thumbdwn: , anyone think Bethesda can be trusted with an MMO? They'll get the world and lore right.. probably quests too.. but what about class balance, travel, server stability, pvp, economy, loot tables and distribution, raid targets, dps tables, etc etc etc. They have a big name, but that doesn't mean they have the skills. I don't play Oblivion without 'fixing it' with levelling mods and such and I know most of you are the same. You can't fix an MMO like that, so you won't be able to fix theirs.

Blizzard is one of the very very few teams that could carry something like this off. That's because of their IP, legions of fans, attention to detail, lessons learned through battle.net and obsessive QA (and hiring a handful of talented EverQuest 1 guild leaders who know MMO's inside out also helped). Without a recognisable IP that's been around for a long time you're gonna really struggle. Look at the current succesful MMO's out there. WoW, EverQuest, Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings. And coming up soon Conan and Warhammer. See a pattern?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say a STALKER MMO would suck balls. Big time.

[mezkal]

Ergheiz was a great fighting game with lots of depth and anyone who questions it just doesn't know the F they're on about meanwhile Einhander was a great shooter for the PSX. Square have been successful with far more than FFXI (which I found really boring) - Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger are two games that quickly spring to mind but they were in the same genre. What makes you think that you know better than a game dev team would? Any experience in game development that you'd care to share?

GSC are one of the few companies to bother to marry RPG and FPS and probably the only who've actually pulled it off so I'd say they might even be able to make a decent MMOG.

[spirited1]

What makes you think that you know better than a game dev team would?


I don't think I know better than anyone. They were my opinions, that's all.

Any experience in game development that you'd care to share?

5 years, started off as an artist in a small start up then moved on and worked on quest and item implementation. Spent my last year working on classes before I left the industry.

I don't see how that's relevent though. What I said in my previous post was purely down to recognising trends.

Also, my bad. I meant Einhander, not Ergheiz. I thought Einhander sucked.. but again, opinion.

[|MaguS|]

Ergheiz was a horrible Fighting Game, anyone who says different has never played a good fighting game. Einhander was an amazing shooter, offered more depth then many shooters of its time. It also looked and played great for being a PSX game.

There have been plenty of developers who have started off in one genre and suceeded in moving onto other genres. Insomniac and Naughty Dog are one, you also have Bioware (made MDK aswell as key RPGs), Psygnosis (Wipeout and Drakan), Heck lets not forget EA, Konami and Capcom all which have great titles in many different genres.

[Q]

Einhander was the ****.

[Unstable_Hero]

heres my idea for Stalker MMORPG

Imagine little towns with walls, like the end of I am legend. Going outside the walls alone is certain death from monsters and even bandits. So people meet up in friendly towns to make incursions into the wild for food and supplies. Now image 6-10 towns like these that are warring each other for the things they need supplies, food, ammo, body armor, technology, even safe areas like tech buildings, watch towers ect, ect. Add the stalker universe plot and lore, you got a winning FPSMMORPG formula. IMO

[Rasmenar]

Horrid Arguments against a STALKER MMO
"You have to grind for equipment."
Incorrect. This is people under the assumption that just because other games require you to grind for equipment, every MMO game will require that. This is a completely non-necesary part of an MMO. I admit that some games benefit from equipment grinding, because it gives you a sense of accomplishment. MMOFPS's, however, do not need this, because your sense of accomplishment will come from your skill in playing the game.

"Stupid People"
If this is your aversion to online gaming, then why do you ever leave your home? Stupid people are everywhere, and if you havn't learned to deal with them by now, you are either 1) Too young to b playing STALKER in the first place or 2) An Anti-Social Moron lacking any kind of people skills. Either of which do not belong in a game where socializing is almost a prerequisite.

"I don't want to pay monthly"
Then don't, the game will have plenty of people (like me) who would. Games that do not require a monthly payment normally require you to purchase things in-game or be overpowered by the people who do want to spend money to play, or they are games that are lacking very highly in content. I've played Guild Wars, and man was it a terrible game. The only way I can see that game staying alive is if they continue to release expansion packs every few months, or continue to require you to purchase additional things to unlock more content. If you want an MMO to stay alive, it needs money. And the best and fairest way to get money is a monthly charge. Selling the best items for cash unbalances the game, as there will be an elite minority that dominate the game. And not requiring any payment at all will put your company in the toilette.

"World too small."
You belong with the "Grind for Equipment" crowd. If they made a STALKER MMO, it would not be nearly the same thing as the game you have played previously. You are assuming that it will be exactly like the previous versions, nothing added to it. Please stop trying to argue, you are going to lose unless you develop the ability to make a good argument.

How about instead of complaining about the possible problems, you start telling people the things the game would need to work. Maybe this way, someone might actually hear them and put them into development.

Here are my ideas.

The STALKER World needs to be massive and expansive.

The AI needs a complete and total makeover.

There should always be massive penalties to killing STALKERS in the wild unless they are an enemy faction. For example, if marked as a murderer, you should not be able to purchase from any of the Traders until the Murder goes away, which should be a substantial amount of time, say, 24 hours.

You need enemy Factions. A game like this with no PvP would be boring.

Mutant Hordes should be exactly that, hordes. Four or five Boars seems intimidating for one person, but not for 10.

There should be varying levels of equipment, but it should be accessible to everyone, purchasable, or able to be obtained without spending weeks grinding for it.

Traders should be able to buy and sell certain Artifacts, that way their price does not get overly inflated by other gamers.

Players should be able to start their own stalker groups, and be able to either remain Neutral or ally with another faction. In addition, people in the Groups should be able to mark locations with GPS so that other group members can see the mark, thusly creating Hideouts and such. Also, the ability to declare war on other Groups, even ones allied to the same faction.

A whole lot more artifacts, different kinds of mutants, anomalies, and possibly a form of Instance areas, like labs and things like that, that way people can choose to do Missions without interferance from others, and will also cut back on the amount of Artifact competition, further ensuring that their value will not get over-inflated.

Ability to ensure that you have your own private Stash, which most other MMO's call a Bank.

Containers that you can carry on your person, so that if you do claim a Hideout, you can make Stash's for your group. You should be able to steal from these.

Some way to ensure that if you die, you do not lose all of your gear to the person who killed you. Say, if you "die", you wake up at the nearest Medical area, having been brought there and saved. This should also mean that you do not leave a corpse behind. Death should negatively affect your Rank, however, and you should also suffer damage to your Armor and any Weapons you have equipped.

Each Faction should have it's own Faction Base and Trader, policed by Guards. You should be able to remain neutral, so that everyone will get a penalty for killing you. Guards in a Faction Base should give you a 10 second warning if you draw a weapon, and if the weapon remains drawn, they should open fire. They should be at least fairly well equipped, with good aim and AI.

More kinds of weapons, armor, and other gear. Including different kinds of Melee weaponry, with varying attack speed and damage capability.

Ability to learn some sorts of Professions, like Gunsmith, Armorsmith, Cooking, First Aid, Demolitions, etc.

Ability to repair and upgrade Weapons and Armor.