Where is the game in YOUR game?

[mindtrigger]

Xsyon appears to be a pretty hardcore sandbox. I have spent many years playing and studying MMO games & players. I came to MMOs because of my interest in virtual reality in general, and games are this with varying degrees of realism.

I often go back and talk about SWG because I feel a real in-game community spontaneously erupted out of the imagination of its frustrated players. I'm pretty sure people weren't even using the term 'sandbox' much when SWG was in development, but one was created anyway.

Interestingly, the game being buggy and devoid of many theme park rides and quests, forced those lovers of Star Wars to create their own content. One thing SWG did brilliantly was hand you a whole lot of tools and player style diversity (combat, non-combat, science, nature-based, military, medical, entertainer/social, etc.), wrapped in a lore-rich universe, then get the heck out of your way. They didn't mean for it to be this way, but it was. In fact, I personally believe the devs bit off way more than they could chew when they created the game, which was the main reason it never lived up to being a whole game, and why it was ultimately dumbed down.

Despite the game's incompleteness, and I would say because of it, a very rich world came to life if you were on the right server (and it happened on several of them), and it was completely driven by the players and the myriad of tools the game offered. If I wanted to hang out in cities and primarily trade, entertain or socialize, I could. If I wanted to throw on a backpack and head into the wilderness as a creature handler, or Ranger, I could. War? Check. Deep crafting? Check. Player shops with NPC vendors? Check. Politics? Check. Science/Medical? Check. In fact, there were over 30 complete main paths through the game, with the ability to dabble in any skills you wanted at the cost of skill points. This made it possible to create many play styles that weren't foreseen by the devs. This page offers a nice overview of the original professions:
http://www.swgalaxies.net/database/index.php?id=89

I could write a book about SWG and what made it work as a sandbox, but I will spare you. When I look at Xsyon, I wonder where the "game" is for me, or if the game's design will hand me enough tools to do much of what I want, then get out of my way. Let me say though that there is a fine line between getting out of the players way, and leaving them totally abandoned and confused ultimately resulting in the loss of subscribers.

My question to all of you is, where is YOUR game in Xsyon, and do you feel the tools you need are in place today or planned for the future? If not, what is missing? What will suck you personally into the game>

[fflhktsn]

The thrilling suspense on when the game will launch and if it will go smoothly is keeping me going right now. So much of the game is unknown, the direction, the focus, its all in development.

Big fan of the "get the heck out of the way" part, not sure the developer agrees with this however.

[shadowlz]

The thrilling suspense on when the game will launch and if it will go smoothly is keeping me going right now. So much of the game is unknown, the direction, the focus, its all in development.

Big fan of the "get the heck out of the way" part, not sure the developer agrees with this however.

naw, jooky is more of a, "ok kids the playground is finally done, play nice." then goes and sits on the bench closely watching incase someone falls and scrapes a knee, kinda dev.


SOE puts the kids in a nice big backyard then goes out to the bar. Then gets back and finds out the yard is a mess, and then it goes one of 2 ways:
they take all the toys away
OR
they leave it like that and eventually the kids get bored, break all the toys, and go over their friends house.


Blizzard builds a well constructed, well planned out indoor kidtopia, and every now and then gets a new wing added.


Starvault buys a boxed swingset from walmart, cuts it up, welds it together to make a big super swing set, paints it with leadpaint and hangs some glass ordinates on it and wonders why the kids get hurt so much.


Aventurine gives the kids a playground and a unlimited supply of large blunt objects to play with.

[fflhktsn]

naw, jooky is more of a, "ok kids the playground is finally done, play nice." then goes and sits on the bench closely watching incase someone falls and scrapes a knee, kinda dev.

knee scrapes will come with permanat stat losses to hinder those who wish to fall, and only those outside of their fall free safe zones will have the ability to fall.

[darg75]

I'm not sure whether my game is going to be too focused on anything in particular at the moment. I like to think it'll sort itself out. I can see myself doing what you'd expect - finding a spot, slowly establishing myself by getting storage, a spare set of the tools of my trade, the ability/contacts/whatever to replace said tools if one of my less scrupulous neighbours decides to take mine (and my head). I'd say doing that will take me sufficient time that I'll then be able to float into whatever it is that I enjoy the most from there. Maybe I'll relocate and do it again, explore, trade, start raising chickens?

So, to answer the OP's question. I reckon my game will be the game.

One final thing to add is, I think I'll also get particular joy out of checking out what everyone elses game is too.

[fflhktsn]

naw, jooky is more of a, "ok kids the playground is finally done, play nice." then goes and sits on the bench closely watching incase someone falls and scrapes a knee, kinda dev.


SOE puts the kids in a nice big backyard then goes out to the bar. Then gets back and finds out the yard is a mess, and then it goes one of 2 ways:
they take all the toys away
OR
they leave it like that and eventually the kids get bored, break all the toys, and go over their friends house.


Blizzard builds a well constructed, well planned out indoor kidtopia, and every now and then gets a new wing added.


Starvault buys a boxed swingset from walmart, cuts it up, welds it together to make a big super swing set, paints it with leadpaint and hangs some glass ordinates on it and wonders why the kids get hurt so much.


Aventurine gives the kids a playground and a unlimited supply of large blunt objects to play with.

I think starvault bought the swingset, then spent 5 months drawing a penis on the box, then kids came over and the swingset was still in the box...said whoops...and only then started to open the box, only to find out they actually need tools to put it toghether. They said they would be back from the hardware store 5 months ago...the kids already left. Man what potential that swingset had though...

think thats a better scenario for MO

[shadowlz]

I think starvault bought the swingset, then spent 5 months drawing a penis on the box, then kids came over and the swingset was still in the box...said whoops...and only then started to open the box, only to find out they actually need tools to put it toghether. They said they would be back from the hardware store 5 months ago...the kids already left. Man what potential that swingset had though...

think thats a better scenario for MO

lol I atleast gave them a little credit.

[ifireallymust]

As an explorer/crafter/trader/soloer, this game will be much more my type of game with the opening of new land areas, taming, more uses for nonedible plants, and cooking.

[orious13]

The less "game feeling" in an mmorpg the better for me...

I came from rift beta before this so this game's already perfect. It seems like a world instead of another Six Flags.

[ukrai]

BIG fan of SWG here too, with Xsyon, to be honest, i havnt had so much fun with a crafting system since SWG, not sure what it is but it just feels right and fun, finding all the parts and putting them together. All it needs now is a mining and factory system like SWG had and ill be the happiest man on earth :)

Apart from craft and trade though, pvp is lacking, thats obvious, the success of the game i foresee, will be based entirely on what extra content they release in the next 6 months BEFORE the end of prelude. if they keep a good balance of interesting content updates and bug fixes, it will be keep me going.

[zeph]

finding all the parts and putting them together. All it needs now is a mining and factory system like SWG had and ill be the happiest man on earth :)

i foresee, will be based entirely on what extra content they release in the next 6 months BEFORE the end of prelude. if they keep a good balance of interesting content updates and bug fixes, it will be keep me going.

I really have to agree with you Ukrai... Ive always "emphasized" Content.... Content... Content... Tools... Tools... Tools.... Players need Content, and tools to do things within a game which allows them freedom of expression, adventure, style, form, and any other thing you can think of that allows creativity with imagination... I think alot of game company's fall short of this in the long haul...

Theres many games on the markets that did offer some of this to an extent but not in its entirety... The only 4 games I could think of that came close to this was Eve, Ultima Online, Runescape, Tales In The Desert (no combat or no hunting, cough).... Unfortunately all the above became too carebarish for me too zoned in and player restricted based on your levels where you could go, and what you can do other than Eve of course in scope... There may be a few others that Ive missed or refused to state because they were pretty much near misses but not on linear scope of this topic, and had other element styles of play...

One of my All time favorites was Roma Victor despite its bugs... The community regardless of drama was awesome, and Ive made some really great friends from there... Of which Id also like to add Community is important as well... As a Community I think its our part to make Xsyon what it is if developers can provide the Content, and tools...

Im Looking forward to seeing everyone in Xsyon soon... I Know I will prob be hated by many , and loved by few lol... But always remember its part of the game, and nothing personal...

[outfctrl]

Personally, I am into this game for foraging, fishing, hunting and scavanging. Hopefully, our tribe will have people with specializations in crafting. IF I can collect everything for an item, someone else can make it for me. We will see. I am hoping that everyone in the Tribe will specialized in something. Mine will be the above. I want to max out those skills and get good at it.

[mindtrigger]

One of, if not THE most important aspect of SWG was the complex Resource, Crafting and Trade system. That aspect of the game alone was larger/deeper than most other complete MMO games. I don't know if the devs from this game got to play pre-NGE SWG, but I think there was a lot to be learned there. The system was a blast. Unlike crafting in modern MMO games, it was a complete gameplay style in SWG. One need not ever pick up a weapon (if they were in a guild), because the crafting game was complete. I believe this system was the glue that held together the whole game. It drew in players that might not have ever played an MMO, and many of them couldn't care less about combat. The same went for the science, medical and entertainer professions.

Imagine my surprise when I joined SWG after years of playing hardcore combat in FPS games such as Quake, Quake2, Tribes, Unreal, etc, to find out that I absolutely loved not only crafting and selling/trading good with others, but in playing a cooking profession which provided buffs. One big mistake modern MMO developers make is they assume no one wants to play a game like that, and that combat is king. Sure, it is king when all you draw in is combat players because the other aspects of your game are a weak afterthought seemingly tacked on at the last months of dev.

Combat is NOT the end-all-be-all of these games, and any dev who thinks it is will be selling their game short. This is especially true of indy games that are competing with countless other AAA, big budget combat MMOs. While this game clearly and understandably needs a lot of work, they have a real shot here at building something special. Yes, combat should be important, but not at the cost of other play styles. If you want to make this a fantastic and profitable niche game like EVE, think of everyone, not just the combat players.