Creating Social Meeting Spots in NPC Towns with Game System

Hello all.

I wanted to promote creating Social Meeting Spots with some little tricks.

Currently i believe SotA lacks the mechanic that "naturally" created a Meeting Spot for Gamers to "want to be and hang out".

I would like a Meeting Spot like the Banks in the NPC Cities. Social Live going on like in Ulitma Online.

So to get that we must ask ourselfs what is missing and what we need to achieve this.
Players will not gather just like that.

1. The Bank in Ultima was actually the Building - Not a NPC to interact with directly. This did mean it was fun to watch the moving and players outside and more spread around a building, and not crowded around one person.

2. It was a place Trading did happen.

3. It was a place it was easy to oversee what is happening.

So all of this is not in SotA currently.

My Suggestions:

1. Create around the Banks the only further area besides Lots, that items can be dropped.

2. Make it possible around banks to be the only place you are able to "Sale" out of yourself.
So basically i can place my own Avatar there and activate a personal Vendor Bag. If a players clicks at me
the bag opens and he can shop from it, but also ask me inbetween.

3. If you enter a Bank Area you get the option to press "free view" if you do not move your Avatar.
This will mean you can roam around with your camera , detached from your Avatar and better observe what is going on, who is chatting with whom. But as soon as you move or leave the dedicated Bank area you can´t to this special "Free Camera View" anymore.

This is to support keeping track what is going on and keeping your Avatar peaceful at one place.


Why am i doing these suggestions. I think back at Ultima Online those "Social Areas" at the banks as i called them had been essential for the fun for the game. Many hours had been spend just hanging around those areas.


I think we need such Areas. And above points are Ideas trying to create spots all of us run to if we feel like socializing with others .


Kind regards

 

Great ideas with maybe making the banks in bigger cities more accessible. Right now that might mean more NPC's standing inside/around banks acting as bankers because I don't think they'll move to a proximity based banking system like UO implemented.

As far as a free camera movement so you can keep your body still, I'm not sure if that would work. Although it will be interesting to see how merchanting will evolve with each release, ie, the ability to place vendors in public squares, "set up mobile shops" etc.

I think your idea of dropping items would be fantastic, but understand the technical limitations with a 3D engine is a bit constraining on that point. I hope for a lively debate amongst the devs on this point as I know it's a feature they (some of them) really wish to include. Perhaps you can only drop a certain amount of items, and if you move away from them, they decay very quickly? There's a lot of ideas on this subject.

 

a bazaar/marketplace/nods.... rent spots/tents/npcs . . . smiles