NanoDot
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Everything posted by NanoDot
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I think your dream will be fulfilled ! I expect DU's civilization will mirror the medieval period in Earth's history, with "walled city-states" being the predominant feature. In DU the walls will just be defence domes. I doubt it will ever progress beyond that point, but anything is possible, however unlikely it may be... The primary driver of economic activity in DU will be military applications, i.e. weapons and defenses. The users and producers of military materiel will be offering the highest prices for everything, because that's where competition for resources will be the hottest. Those that want to build pretty (but functionally useless) buildings will have to compete on the market against the military, who need those resources for their very survival. Orgs will prioritise resources for military use, because unless a "city" is well-defended, its pretty buildings will be reduced to slag in no time. I'd even go as far as predicting that at least 75% of the playerbase in DU will be here for the PVP, with the rest for "other reasons". And the "other reasons" group will most likely shrink steadily as the realities of FFA-PVP sink in...
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You're talking about things that are "nice to have", but not remotely essential. The only time I've ever seen players gather together in one building in an MMO to "socialise" was when the handful of RP'ers in that game got together. In SWG, the early game mechanics forced players together in cantina's because they had to go there to heal a specific damage type. Eventually that mechanism was removed, and the cantina's were largely deserted after that, until a new mechanism was implemented (Entertainer buffs), which again provided a reason for most players to go there. EVE has existed quite successfully for 15 years with no emotes and no player avatars... You will see the other members of your org around you in DU whenever you visit the org HQ or go on combat or mining ops. But cities are irrelevant to that personal interaction.
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Yeah, that's the usual response: "The game must be very "realistic", except it mustn't have the boring parts of RL that make up 90% of our daily lives" Cities in RL exist for reasons that cannot be duplicated in an MMO. In RL, people live in cities because it's the most likely place to find work (within a reasonable travel distance) and/or a mate. Neither of those needs exist in an MMO. The need to socialise in an MMO is easily met by a voice chat channel, there's no need for physical proximity to other players. Global chat takes the place of going to a bar and chatting to strangers. In RL, industry clusters around cities mainly because it's the best way to gain access to a big pool of labour, and because there's some economic benefit in being closer to the dozens of other industries that supply them with things they need. None of those reasons apply in MMO's. That's why MMO's have to provide specific (usually artificial) incentives to encourage players to concentrate together in the game world. Players are usually highly mobile, and they're playing because they want fun action, not because they want to RP an office cleaner on nightshift. In MMO's, players don't need to commute to work every day, or sleep 6 hours every night, or worry about freezing to death if they can't pay the heating bills in winter. In MMO's, players don't go home every night and watch some TV after a hard days questing... In MMO's, cities are mostly the equivalent of RL shopping malls, players go there briefly when they need to buy stuff. Then they leave.
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Sandbox vs Themepark MMOs - What do you think?
NanoDot replied to Kurock's topic in Off Topic Discussions
Make it an "adult themepark" and you can collect 15 bare butts instead ! -
I'd imagine that power needs (i.e. electricity supply) can quite effectively be used to organically create settlements and eventually cities. If a large power generator is much more efficient to run than a small one, the economic benefit will naturally draw people together. Money talks...
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I'm quite sure the "new player experience" will need to be adjusted over time, but exactly how and when is anyone's guess. Trying to predict what DU's game play will look like 3 years from now is an impossible task, we don't even know what the game play will look like at launch, lol
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Sandbox vs Themepark MMOs - What do you think?
NanoDot replied to Kurock's topic in Off Topic Discussions
It comes as no surprise that everyone here is a fan of "sandbox" games, lol However, history has shown us that "sandbox" games just don't appeal to the vast majority of players. Everyone of us will have their own pet explanation for why that has been the case in the past, and why it will be "different" with DU. But I don't think it will be any different at all, actually. To thrive in a sandbox, you have to be creative and self-motivated. You cannot sit back and just consume the entertainment provided by the devs. The vast majority of gamers want just that: they want to be entertained and given clear goals to attain. And it mustn't take too much time to get there... -
Possible exploits and ways to prevent them
NanoDot replied to CalenLoki's topic in General Discussions
The main thing that is "wrong" in any persistent online game is the fact that it's an imperfect simulation of RL, and therefore needs artificial mechanics to compensate for the fact that each player is not playing the game 24 hours per day. Do you really want a game where the only way to survive is to play as a member of a large org that has 30-40 players active in all major time zones ? Because without "artificial mechanisms", you will need to somehow defend your base when it's attacked at 3:30am or at 2:00pm on a weekday while you're at work, or while you're on summer holidays on the beach somewhere... -
Sugar, Spice, and everything worth killing for: Food
NanoDot replied to AzureSkye's topic in The Gameplay Mechanics Assembly
Those people that get tired of the mundane job of mining ? Did you know, there's a game called "Farming Simulator 17" on Steam, which is ranked at 76th most popular game on Steam ! Just because you think "farming" sounds boring, doesn't mean everybody else does too... -
The market manipulation you describe here is possible regardless of whether DAC and other "high value items" are lootable or not. All it requires is for someone to be willing to spend a large wad of RL cash to transfer ingame currency from other players to themselves. You did it in EVE, somebody will undoubtedly do it in DU as well. Once that currency is concentrated in a single wallet, the shenanigans can commence ! Incidentally, that has been my objection to DAC (and PLEX) all along, but nobody on these forums seems to think it will be a problem. Nobody except you and me, it seems...
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That is indeed interesting. So if the PLEX market "crashes" in EVE, all player-made items suddenly jump 200-400% in price ? I've no clue why that would be the case, but given that DU's economy will be closely modeled on EVE, we can expect the same to happen in DU. Except that in DU's case, the money supply is capped by NQ, so this effect is likely to be amplified. I wonder if NQ have considered this ?
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Oh, I have no doubt that the EVE PLEX hoarders cried long and loud when caught with their pants down in those bouts of market-PVP, lol It must hurt to see several billion ISK wiped off the value of your PLEX portfolio overnight ! But I'd be interested to see why the consumers of PLEX (ordinary peons like me) would rage about a sudden massive drop in the cost of PLEX...
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To "crash the market", someone has to flood it with low-price DAC. I'd be happy to buy cut-rate DAC anytime...
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Why is "crashing the market" a problem ? It's only a problem for the DAC hoarders, for the rest of the playerbase it's Xmas with low-price DAC in abundance !
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Just add that request to the already looong list of "clarifications" that NQ have to provide on virtually everything in DU, lol The terminology is a bit tricky in this case, the "personal snapshot" is not a "blueprint" per se, but it functions like one. However, as I specified, it cannot be used to make copies, etc. and won't be an inventory item AFAIK, which automatically means it cannot be traded. It's more like a "save point" in a single-player game.
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Agreed. The game should have a mechanic that allows YOU to assign a "standing level" to any player or org, but there should not be a global "rating of player based on their actions" that's decided by some game mechanic. In fact, realistically you shouldn't be able to automatically identify the pilot of some random ship you encounter, much less which org it belongs to, unless it's displaying obvious markings or actively broadcasting some kind of ID signature. But I guess that would make the game too "hard"...
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Sugar, Spice, and everything worth killing for: Food
NanoDot replied to AzureSkye's topic in The Gameplay Mechanics Assembly
There's no shortage of land in DU... is there ? If farming requires sizeable fields to grow crops, that could throw an entirely new light on the value of "good land" on planets. Barren planets would have to import food, etc., or could possibly grow crops commercially that don't do well on "earth-like" planets. Perhaps some exotic alien cactus-analogue has amazing medical applications ! If food and medical items become popular and sought-after in the game, then the means of producing the raw materials to make them can become a significant part of game play, and would provide an alternative to the current "mining is everything" scenario that DU will be starting with. Agriculture and Forestry could also be used as a source for raw materials/chemicals needed in general industry, it doesn't have to be all about food and/or medicine. Various plants could provide sources of biofuels, acids, textiles, etc. that can be used to make and power ship elements. Our civilization on Earth started with agriculture, after all. -
Possible exploits and ways to prevent them
NanoDot replied to CalenLoki's topic in General Discussions
I have seen several posts claiming that "it's not NQ's intention to allow players to build 100% "safe" bases outside the safezone", and then using that claim to argue against underground bases, for instance. That's nonsense. NQ are not opposed to players building impregnable fortresses, but they ARE opposed to providing artificial game mechanics (like enforced arkship safezones) to allow that to be possible. If players can design and fortify skilfully, it's not NQ's job to step-in and say: "Your design is too good, we can't allow you to make it that difficult for others to attack you"... -
Just to be clear: Master Blueprints MIGHT be bound to account, that has not been decided yet, so it cannot be described as planned. Also worth distinguishing between the "personal snapshot BP" and an actual Master BP. I believe those will be separate things, with the former not being tradeable or used for making copies (.i.e. personal use only).
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Blueprints are NOT safe ! They are inventory items, and therefore will be lost when you die. The only safe items in DU (other than the Quanta wallet) are those that are stored in a safe zone and never moved out of it. And even in safe zones, the "safety" aspect is relative, because things can still be stolen under certain circumstances, unless kept in a container that only ONE person has access to.
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Keep in mind that DU will be a far more dangerous place than EVE ! Outside of a few (relatively small) designated "safezones", it's FFA-PVP everywhere, with complete loss of all items when you die. There's no NPC "space police" in DU to regulate things, and no concept of "high-security" space... Unlike EVE, there's no network of invulnerable NPC space stations (with unlimited storage) to keep your stuff safe. Outside of the handful of safezones, you will have to rely on other players to protect your possessions.
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ultra wide The 21:9 (2560 x 1080) Experience?
NanoDot replied to OmaSuun's topic in General Discussions
I'm sure DU will support 2560x1080 at release. It's a available in most new games nowadays. I also use that resolution on an ultra-wide... -
Regardless of the underlying architecture, I cannot believe that extra systems will not come at an increased operating cost.
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"Terraforming" means to make a planet fit for human habitation, i.e. changing the atmosphere to be breathable and capable of sustaining human and plant life out in the open, just as it does on our home planet (Earth). For instance, we can colonise Mars, but everything will have to be kept in special bases or "domes" until the planet is "terraformed".
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Terraforming mechanics may be great material for an expansion one day. But we first need to have good reasons to want to terraform anything. It's likely to be a slow and costly process if it will be "realistic" in any way, so not something that's just done "for fun".
