New Britannia Rental Agreement Template

They're not paying attention to you in single player mode while you're chopping wood. They might get a log file that says you and 500 other people chop wood a lot during the noon hours...but other than that you're playing in a world that is virtually static and empty in comparison to multiplayer.

 

What did you think about the distinction between active role-playing and passive role-playing I made in the other thread? That was about acting out vs. playing a part. But obviously a single-player game has a lot less opportunities for active role-playing, so that's another distinction. Its pure passive role-playing, except where the world is designed so your decisions have an impact... which is sometimes the case, but often just in a very limited way.

 

Yes, of course.

I'm simply saying that active or passive is exponentially enhanced by more people. Single player is kind of like writing a novel where the only reader is you. Multiplayer is like writing a novel that may very well go on the NYTimes Best Seller List.

 

Of course, single-player games by their nature aren't necessarily about following the story, there can be sandbox single-player games too.

In that kind of model, depending on the single player game, a player's actions can either influence the life of the character (building a home and family, starting a profession), or it can influence the world in many ways (granting that the game world is designed so it can be changed).

But yea, the original Ultimas weren't that sandboxy. I remember one reviewer dismissed the later Ultima games as "adventure-RPGs", meaning they were mainly about completing the story and nothing else, not even the combat.

 

The thing that I dislike about MMO's in general is that most developers have attempted to take the very thing out of this genre that makes it special (playing with other people). Most players don't like to complete, don't like to do things involving conflict, don't like dealing with the other players, and don't like the inconvenience that comes with having other players (things like waiting in lines or differing points of view).

So what we end up with is ZERO roleplaying. Everyone is just running around with their head down going from quest to quest never bothering to talk to another living person. That's one of the reasons I'm so excited about SOTA multiplayer, there are a lot of great reasons to talk to other players. Everything from crafting and trade, to joining up with other people to capture a control point. And what forms out of that interaction will be more valuable than any item or experience point gain could ever be. We'll meet personalities that we'll remember 20 years from now. We'll do things that people will tell their grand children about. We'll have experiences that can't be shaped by NPC's and static quests.

When I talk about roleplaying...that's what I'm talking about.

 

I don't have a problem with solo players, people are entitled to role-play as lone wolfs if they want to.

The thing I dislike about most MMOs is that they remove the sandbox elements and other structured elements of the world, so your choices are no longer limited and the choices you do make no longer have consequences to you or the world. Healing is easy, you just use waypoints everywhere, you don't have to survive, etc. This removes even passive role-playing elements, and the whole world is nothing but a pretty backdrop for the quests or the combat. That's what a themepark MMO is.

 

So its all about how you influence the world? fair enough I personally prefer story to sitting around chopping wood and baking cakes. I do that in real life and personally I have as little interest in the Sims as I do in Big Brother, they are both more like jobs than games but lets take your definition. Ever herd of a game called Infamous? Your actions dramatically effect the world. In fact single player games are FAR better at full world repercussions to actions than Multiplayer games are because they have to be the same for everyone. Games like Mass Effect have effects (LARGE effects) on the world, not just in the game you carry out the action but across the whole series. Something you do in game 1 straight up may well effect the end of game 3. Now sure the ENDING isn't fantastic and could have been written to be more diverse but the series as a whole is fantastic for this.

And to be brutally honest, I care far more about the NPCs response to my actions than I do about some kid in the US. Yes I might play co-op with people I know in the real world and share my experience with them but random strangers? You are less than NPCs in my opinion

 

To each their own. I have yet to meet the NPC I'd rather talk to over a player though.

 

Hey, that's mean

Honestly, I don't expect a random player in the game to really add to the role-playing experience either. But there are plenty of people in the SoTA community that I would enjoy role-playing with, and who I expect will add to building the game world, helping add to the lore, and even maybe NPCs of their own.