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Reader Comments (11)

Posted: Dec 9th 2007 9:29AM (Unverified) said

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This essentially translates to 'rip the core mechanic out of Fable 1 and stick it in an MMO', right?

Posted: Dec 9th 2007 9:35AM (Unverified) said

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Or use the Karma system from Fallout. Which, really, is a great idea.
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Posted: Dec 9th 2007 4:57PM (Unverified) said

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Ah, but Fallout didn't have 'physical changes' (as far as I know) like the post mentioned. Extreme goodies in Fable get a transparent halo, have sunny blond hair and generates butterflies made of light (honest), while the worst of the worst sprout horns, gain glowy red eyes and generate dark red flames whenever they stand still. This is in addition to the revered/feared reactions you get from NPCs and whatnot.
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Posted: Dec 9th 2007 10:47AM Jeromai said

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Knowing how players are, you'd probably end up biting off more than you could chew. One or two jealous griefers, stirring up drama, and the altruist might end up effectively socially outcast. The reverse fame of the notority would attract a group of gankers to stick together and make everyone's lives miserable.

The problem is you can't control other people's reactions to a player the same way NPC reactions can be controlled.

Eve Online seems a social drama type of game. Doesn't it do something similar already? Maybe there's no actual in-game 'reputation score' but I bet the serious social players keep score of their corp alliances and betrayals somehow.

Posted: Dec 9th 2007 1:26PM Durinthal said

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You can post bounties on other players if you want. The thing is, if it's high enough they'll just get a friend to kill them (one they've put away all of their good equipment and ships) and split the bounty.

Some people make alts, put really high bounties on them with their main character, and then have the alt just sit in a station and chat all day.
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Posted: Dec 9th 2007 1:22PM Durinthal said

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It's a great idea for a system -- in theory. I can't think of how to implement it in such a way that it couldn't be easily abused, however.

Posted: Dec 9th 2007 4:43PM (Unverified) said

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You can go with useless things like UO's titles all the way to pre-CU SWG-esque bounties. It's all cool thinking. But if it doesn't impact one's actual play in any meaningful way, it's just LoTRO-esque Titles. A fun toy.

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 12:11AM (Unverified) said

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Ultima Online actually encountered and addressed these issues a decade ago. In a dynamic fashion I might add.

First they incorporated the "Notoriety" system that gave you positive titles if you did good, and negative ones for evil-doers. Negative titles were colored red scarlet-letter style so that it would be known to all PCs that you were not to be trusted. The more dishonorable you were the more difficult life in the game became for you. If you were especially evil, you would be banned from towns and attacked on site by NPC guards if you dared enter.

If that wasn't enough, the clever guys at Origin/EA upped-the ante further by offer "bounties" issued by the town crier for the heads of evil players. Yes, you literally had to kill and collect the head of the PC and return it to a guard in town for the "cash" reward.

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 9:26AM (Unverified) said

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1st poster hit the nail on the head.

Has the author played Fable?

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 12:44PM (Unverified) said

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indie developer Quel Solaar is trying to do something like this for their experimental "not quite MMO" Love:
http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 3:56PM (Unverified) said

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EVE Online already has a bounty system, but as Durinthal points out, it's a joke. People put high bounties on themselves just to show what a badass they are, or if somebody else puts a huge bounty on them, they get a friend to kill them and then split the loot and laugh.

I've always been an advocate of having two economies, the "good guy" economy and the "bad guy" economy, where if you get a bad reputation (and maintain it) you're unable to show your face in some towns but become welcome in bandit camps and monster lairs.

Basically a universal faction system, where killing players and griefing people will dramatically and precipitously drop your reputation with their affiliated groups (becoming K.O.S. with NPC factions for killing players), but increase your fame and faction with the enemies of those groups and being able to exploit their mercantile contacts to do business with them instead.

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