Selective Multiplayer RPG.

Selective Multiplayer Online:

In Shroud of the Avatar there are currently 4 modes listed on the login screen. These are subject to change since this is a Pre-Alpha Build.

• Single Player Offline
• Single Player Online
• Friends Only Online
• Multiplayer Online

Many of you seem to be confused as to what Shroud of the Avatar is. I've seen many posts about this and it's been answered many times but I thought I would take the time to write this thread to explain it to those that still don't understand it. This will be to the best of my knowledge based on what has been said by the developers if I am wrong with anything in my post and you're one of the developers please feel free to correct me so I myself can understand it better.

Basically Shroud of the Avatar is neither a traditional Massive Multiplayer Online Game aka MMO (Uses a Client that connects to a Server which tells the Client what content to display at all times) nor is it a regular Single Player RPG (however there is a full single player offline mode that doesn't update with the persistent world). Shroud of the Avatar is a Selective Multiplayer Online RPG (SMORPG).
The first thing we need to establish is that the game uses a dual scale map meaning everything in the actual game in the zoomed in map is Instanced when you enter it after everyone leaves the instance is disappears but the data is synced across too all the other players to maintain the online persistent world. Each player of the game runs their own instance of the game and connects via ad-hoc to other players based on an algorithm which takes into account your settings, play style, who is closed to you, and who it thinks you want to play with.
There are several modes that determine who you want to see in the game that you can set at the login screen Single Player Offline, Single Player Online, Friends Only Online, and Multiplayer Online. There is a main server that everyone connects to that maintains the persistent world by syncing and verifying data between players the server also uses your friend graph to choose which players will appear in your instances. So the server handles things like player housing, items trades, and verifying game save data.
The entire game itself is running on your computer this is why you can run it offline as opposed to being required to be connected to a server to even play at all. There will be difference with the offline version because you are not synced up with the persistent world that other players interact with this is why you're encouraged to play Single Player Online as opposed to Single Player Offline.
When you enter an instance if someone you know already has an instance for that hex on the map you'll enter their instance of the hex otherwise your game will create an instance and anyone that enters the hex after you will enter your instance of the hex on the map. Because of this there is only one server that runs the persistent instead of running the entire game like most MMORPGs do.

I hope this has helped a few of you out if you have any questions please post them below I'll update this post based on feedback to make it more accurate. I'm excited to see some of you guys in my instances!

Richard Garriot recently had an interview over at About.com and I thought it related really well to this thread. Shroud of the Avatar Selective Multiplayer

Temporary Offline for your Online Characters:
Richard Garriot talked about in the interview that he wants to make it so eventually we'll be able to play offline temporarily for short periods of time (48 hours or less). How this would work is if it's enabled when you play your game would automatically put XP, Gold, and other items aside for you to "earn" on the temporary offline mode.
This would prevent cheating because you already earned those things previously and can't earn more than you have already saved up. Also things such as buying or selling items will be restricted especially for special items. This is just Richard's idea and not an officially announced feature but it sounds really cool and would be awesome if it was introduced at after the game has been released.

How does SotA know who my friends are?:

Based on what the developers have said these are the places your friends will be pulled from:
(Please note these have not been officially announced and are speculation)
1. Google+ because Google has an awesome Google Play Games API that should allow easy integration.
2. Steam yet another popular gaming platform with great APIs for chat and social support.
3. Email could also be used to pull contacts from your address book.
4. People have talked about wanting the Forums Friend list in-game which should be possible.
5. Those who you manually search for and add in game.

Because of API restrictions Facebook may not be supported, Chris has mentioned this in a couple of the videos. Facebook no longer allows apps except Mobile applications to access your friend list. Twitter will also most likely not be supported because they only allow 100,000 users to login from any given application and SotA will hopefully have a lot more than this. Of course these things are subject to change depending on Facebook and Twitter.


I've decided to make this thread an overall explanation of my understanding of various parts of the game in addition to the original explanation of what a SMORPG is. I will continue to expand it over time and hope that it helps some of you guys and I will correct things as they change and are announced by the developers.

As a rule for this thread please don't post about PVP or other controversial topics because I want to keep this thread orderly and civil.

Thanks for everyone that has already commented on this thread hopefully this updated version helps clear a few things up!

EDIT: For the most up to date version of this please visit the Wiki Page HERE.

 

That sounds pretty accurate and is my understanding as well. I can't see anything in there that doesn't sound right. I think you're managed to cover pretty much all the basics.

 

Ok thanks alot for the confirmation hopefully this will clear up some confusion.

 

I agree, that sounds like an excellent summary.

One of the things that will be great is to have actual dev descriptions that put to rest some of the details. One of the things that bugs me about most MMO's out there is the complete lack of information on basic principles of the game design. You have to poke around a website, a wiki, check other things until you kinda get a sense of what is going on. What if the design for SoTA had clear and detailed descriptions in one place so that people could easily get a sense of what is going on? Simply a dream...

 

Good job, Link. I wanted to let people know that whatever Online Mode you are playing in, you will be able to switch between any Online Mode any time you enter any 'Safe' place. You will be able to see all Vendors of all Players of every account, and you will be able to see all houses/structures of all Players of every account, even though you will not see all Players, ever. There will be no Auction Houses, but there will be local markets. We have yet to hear how the Vendor Item Sorting will be done, but much discussion is going on about that.

 

Only thing i saw is you indicate- nor is it a single player RPG. They have said that will be an option. Its not my interest personally, but that there will be a complete offline, no internet, pure single player mode has been mentioned as a play option. DRM free based on kickstarter feedback.

The downside to this mentioned is that there will be some battles in game a single player probably. Wont be able to win by themselves but that the plan is to make sure those are not part of the story.

 

I intend to play the game solo online until I solve/defeat the story line. I'll be the hero in my story, thank you very much.
If any of my friends buy the game, I'll let them into my world. However, it doesn't look like this will be the case.

When I'm done with the story, I'll turn on selective multiplayer, and let a few like-minded people into my world. We'll go tackle the big fights that I could not solo. It'll be grand!

I have no plans to open my world up to the unwashed masses. They bring with them plague and pestilence, and I play to be entertained and amused.

Fortunately, the people that want lots of people around, drama, competition, and super challenging game play will have what they want too! This Selective Multiplayer system sounds like a great thing to me!

 

Being able to select what mode you want to play is a great idea, I just really dislike the fact that I won't be able to see everyone when I want to see everyone

 

I edited my post to reflect this. Although I did say it's not a "regular" single player RPG which is true. But I now specified that the single player offline option exists thanks for your input. As for winning battles I'm sure that Single Player Offline will be adjusted so that every part of the game is able to be passed possibly with companion characters but no specifics have been given. I know for online they have mentioned previously the possible ability to check out friends characters to adventure with while they are offline.

I would say the way it's setup that you should be able to get your friends to meet you in a specific town and unless for whatever reason that instance is completely maxed out you should be able to have all your friends together in once instance assuming you don't have like 200+ friends. I would say for myself the max amount of friends I'd meet at once would be no more than 10 or 20 if that.

I personally plan to have both a Single Player Offline character and an Online Character I think it will be fun to experiment with different things in the game I'm hoping for the ability to have multiple offline characters as well as LAN and Third Party server support for additional modability in the future.

 

Richard Garriott said he had many people interested in playing the Single Player Offline Mode, which is definitely an option in Shroud of the Avatar. Those Players will not see the dynamic map changes. Think of the previous Ultima games to get an idea of how the Single Player Offline would be fun.

Remember, while this is not an MMORPG -- not 'Massive', i.e., you will not see EVERYONE who has an online account -- you will see 'dozens' of Players [at last estimate] if you choose the Multi-Player Online Mode. These will be people you agree to adventure with, Players that you choose, or Players that you let the game choose for you. The game will choose Players similarly styled to your play and progress. If you never want to PvP, then you won't be forced into that. If you want to PvP, you will be able to do that [with consensual players].

There will not be the divide of Shards/Servers. There will not be a concern that your friends or family would create a character on a different Shard/Server. You won't have to worry about a 'world' transfer.

 

Yeah I'm excited about the fact that it puts you with players that have similar play styles in addition to your friends and family. Also I'm going to make offline characters to experiment with different things in-game and hoping there will be LAN/Third Party server support for the "offline" for the Mod community to make use of. I don't think people will try to run their own SotA servers but use it for brand new games made via mods.

 

I just hope that any public version will be PvP/loot/thieving enabled. If you want to play in Barney land, invite just your friends. If you venture into the public realm to meet and interact with strangers, keep your hand at your hilt.

 

I'm sure it will be except for young players. However because the game groups you with people that have similar play styles you are less likely to encounter PvP/Pkers if you yourself don't engage in that type of play however that being said Richard has said there will be some quests that put players on both sides of PvP both the hunter and the hunted.

 

Quick question: So if a player selects "guild only" and some of his guildmates select "public", how does that work?

I am guessing you only see each other if you are in the same game type.

 

MMmm I like that idea. Obviously it would suck for everyone involved if every time you log on all there are are PKers. There should be a chance of danger but it shouldnt be the whole game.

 

I would think that only Guild people and friends of friends would be allowed in the instance but we don't know all the ins and outs of this probably won't until Alpha.

 

"Jack of all trades game". Ok, it will most likely need some fine tuning, but i like all modes. So if some trolls making a tour trough the town you life, you can simple switch on private. In the offline mode, you can life out your darkest phantasies. And mod the game to death.
One of things, they game got me with very fast.

 

I'm fine with the ability to decide if you want to play with pk or not...that doesn't mean you aren't looking for a challenge however. Such a stupid notion.

 

The NPCs enemies should be of course good enough. So switching of other players shoudn't end in a game without any challenges. But think LB knows this aswell.