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1. A 100% player-driven economy. NO npcs, except for possibly quest npcs, though only on a very limited basis. 2. A Dynamic landscape. The lands that the game takes place in MUST BE ABLE TO CHANGE EASILY. Trees must be able to be cut down, rocks must be able to be moved, and the landscape must be able to display damage. (from say, dragon fire or cannon shot) 3. The land must follow real-world physics and cycles, and must be affected by them. When it rains, rivers and lakes rise. It becomes more difficult to walk on bare land, as it becomes slippery and muddy. When it snows, the rivers and lakes freeze (or CAN freeze) allowing characters to walk on their surfaces. After rain, fog must form above bodies of water, limiting visibility. Lightning must be able to strike tries and tall buildings, as well as characters (though the chance can be obviously low). 4. Day, Night, Seasons, and other special conditions must have a real impact on characters. In the winter, characters without adequate clothing must slow down and eventually freeze, unless they find a heat source quickly. Rain must lower visibility, as must nightfall. If it rains blood and meteors, characters must be able to be damaged by falling debris. 5. Players must be able to have an effect on the game world. Players must be able to construct buildings anywhere they please, provided they have adequate materials and time, and the ground is reasonably flat, and they have the required skills to do so. Players must be able to chop down trees, haul lumber, and process minerals, etc etc. 6. Trees and other living features of the world must grow back over time. The rate that they return is variable, depending on how real the world needs to be. Obviously deforestation is a real problem, but in a fantasy world, perhaps they can be "helped" to grow with magic, or other means. 7. Players must be able to form governments and rule themselves. This means that at first, sheer anarchy will rule the world, until reasonable players form powerful guilds and leagues, and begin protecting others, forming a more civilized society. Players with similar views of morality will of course band together naturally, and form the beginnings of good and evil governments. Eventually they will elect officials, or simply claim the right to rule. They will send out tax collectors, to fund the kingdom from the people who are protected by it. None of this must be hard coded into the game. Sheer human personality will make it possible, provided that the game allow such things to occur. 8. Players must be able to kill each other without game-engine based rules to protect weaker players. Modern society was ruled by the stronger person for years. A game will have to undergo this period also. Weaker players will be forced to either live on their own, and try to hide from the stronger players, or join more powerful guilds and governments, and remain under their protection until they are strong enough to venture out on their own. 9. All skills, abilities, classes, and races must be completely balanced. Without this obvious step in place, a dominant race/class group will immerge based on broken game rules. 10. There must not be any "random item drops" from slain creatures, unless it is reasonable to assume that the creature would possess such a thing. Receiving a sword from a giant wasp threatens the immersion of the game, but finding a rusted sword on an orc is not unbelievable. However, creatures and players must be able to be skinned, field dressed, and cooked. 11. Artifact items must be completely unique. Only one instance of each may exist in the game world at any time. Rare items must be rare. Perhaps there are 2-5 instances of a "rare" item for every 1000 players. 12. No item gained from any creature can be more powerful than the more powerful player created items, except for artifacts and "rare" items. 13. Combat must be real time. A "push the button and watch your character engage the enemy" combat system may be required to keep dialup users in sync with the rest of the game world, but it is not realistic. Skill SHOULD play a role in combat, especially against other players. Like any good FPS game, weapons would need to have a short delay after each "firing" based on size and weight and magical bonuses. 14. Characters must not be able to walk through other characters, trees, shrubs, rocks, or any other "object" large enough to reasonably halt an average adult. 15. Ranged weapons must be able to be fired at will at any place within range of the character using the weapon. A "target" should not be required to fire the weapon. Likewise, melee characters must be able to swing at any time, at any space within the range of their weapons. 16. Characters must eat. Not eating must cause weakness after several meals are skipped. Likewise, characters must sleep. Going without sleep for some time must cause fatigue. 17. Death must be permanent. Perhaps lower level characters could be able to respawn, until an average level. 18. A creature or other player that is able to deal damage to another player must be worth experience to that player. Any creature or player not able to damage another player may be worth no experience. 19. Buildings must be able to be destroyed. Castle walls must crumble, gates and doors must be able to be bludgeoned inward. 20. Except for an obvious magical field, the landscape should hold no boundaries, provided that a character has the required skills to "climb" or "swim", etc. A vast ocean could be unswimable, but boats should exist, crewed by players with the appropriate skills. (and built by other players with the appropriate skills!) A magical field should only be a boundary as a placeholder for further expansion as the game grows. 21. When a creature is created with items that can be "looted" from its corpse, the creature uses those items in combat. If there is a possibility of getting a magic sword off an orc, and an orc is spawned that carries one, then that orc should USE that magic sword in combat. 22. (From Doom) There must be a player-based resurrection system in place. (for instance, cleric or healer players can resurrect dead players) This helps the permanent death situation. 23. (From Doom) Once dead, any player can loot your corpse, taking whatever items they wish. This is how artifacts get redistributed 24. (From Doom) Reasonably Intelligent creatures should be able to loot your body and use whatever weapons and items they find. 25. (From Evil Tim) Creatures that are assumed to be "intelligent" should use tactics in combat. And yes, something a little more in depth than the "bring a friend" dynamics of the current crop of mmorpgs. 26. (From Jynx) Realistic Vehicles: Spaceships, speeders, and steeds shouldn't just be a quick way to get from point to point. A horse that only follows a pre-programmed path is a waste of good glue. Players should be able to control the movement of their vehicles, as well as fight from within or atop them. 27. (From Jynx) Disguises: Some players could benefit from being able to disguise their faces and names with an appropriate skill or spell. Disguised players might infiltrate the enemy as spies, assassins, and saboteurs... or they could just dodge that bounty on their heads for a while. Maybe they could even get a shave and a haircut. 28. (From Jynx) Fire should burn flammable things. Wooden walls are flammable. So are forests. So are people. On the same note, putting out fires should be possible if suitable actions are taken. 29. (From Jynx) The use of basic items should not be restricted to trained-only characters if it doesn't make sense. Just because you don't have any points in the "Shield" skill doesn't mean you can't figure out how to hold one up in front of you in a fight. 29. (From Jynx) Multiple crafters and builders should be able to help each other make items and structures. Speed and/or quality of the craft could benefit. 29. (From Jynx) Terrain, objects, and other characters should provide cover against physical attacks to some degree. Closed doors ought to block javelins, for instance. On a similar note, some attacks like magic or lasers might just go straight through. Other attacks like arrow volleys could simply arc over the wall to hit their targets. 30. (From Derik Wilson) There should be some sort of natural disasters that can occasionally occur. Volcanos, hail, meteors, earthquakes, etc, that would ruin someone's day or damage the land and cities. 31. (From Crazymouse) No global channels. Everything should be restricted to distance. Instead of a vender channel, implement a player advertising system, such as local billboards or something similar (be creative). 32. (From Crazymouse) Players need to start out in a completely random area. This not only keeps things from being too systematic and unrealistic, but it also solves the problem of people just waiting for "noobs" to log it so they can take part in a slaughter. (Agreed, but with the addendum that random starting locations should be limited by the average zone level, if there is one. Starting new players off in a random high death area is a bad idea.) |