How does it work in a MMORPG?

Game Play & Game Design
#1

I would first like to say that I’m NOT planning on building a MMORPG in 21 days using Java…so don’t panic. ;D Instead, I just have a couple gameplay questions regarding what is considered the typical way of handling some situations in modern MMORPGs. To be honest, I’ve never really looked that closely at the format. I am a big fan of face-to-face RPGing but just never had the time / money to invest in any of the online incarnations so it’s got a lot of unknowns to me. ???

This question is really regarding how these games treat your avatar when you’re not online. I am going to guess there are probably “safe places” in the game where you can return to rest and recover ( please correct me if I’m wrong ). Let’s say you’re wandering around a dungeon or a country side and no where near such a location, what happens when you have to log off to go to work?

If your avatar remains visible in the game world and another player wanders by, do you have any level of protection or can they just wack you with their weapon and steal all your stuff. Assuming you are not placed in some state of invulnerability while off-line, is the combat system in these games abstracted enough that your avatar will defend itself with some degree of success ( and you may even return to the game later to find the corpse of someone that tried to attack you laying at the ground by your feet )? 8)

#2

On WoW, you disappear from the gameworld when you log out. I think your avatar may persist a bit, particularly if you disconnected when in a fight (to try to escape). You reappear when you log in.

From a players perspective, it’s best to return to an Inn before logging off. IIRC your recover rate when offline depends on where you are.

I haven’t played for a bit. There isn’t enough time in my life. Really should cancel my account realistically.

#3

So in WoW you don’t have any offline presence to speak of. That’s the easiest way for sure but a little surprising.

Can anyone comment on how some of the other big names in the field handle this? Is this the common method used?

I was thinking in terms of some “moves per day” browser-based games in which combat is completely abstracted and your in-game presence persists while you’re off line, so you could be attacked, and defend yourself, while not being logged in. I sort of had the impression that a disapearing avatar was sort of a “cheap” ( in terms of effort ) way of handling the issue and therefore the big MMORPGs would probably be doing something else.

#4

I cant think of a currewnt MMo that derosnt remove you from the world.l

I understand WOW gives you an exp bonus next time you play though for time spent offline.

(Reward your players for NOT using your machine! Sheer genius!)

#5

You know, Jeff, that’s not really that bad of an idea.

It reduces the load on the server for having to handle people that feel they must log in on regular basis just to get SOMETHING. It also reduces the stress you give your player since they know if real life is getting in the way of their gamming for a while they can just come back to it later and will not only be safe, but will have also accumulated at least a little experience. A pretty good approach I think to keeping your players as paying members thru active and inactive periods without creating any resentment in them for having to put in any extra effort on their part ( and even getting some reward for no effort…the American Way! ;D )

#6

Nope its not as bad idea…

But I think its ironic that peopel are paying fro a service you then reward them not to use…

#7

maybe ironic, but developers surely aren’t complaining… :-X

#8

I’ll admit I never would have thought of it…but now that i have… ::slight_smile:

Maybe develop a MMORPG that lets you earn points FASTER by being off-line. In fact, punish the user for being active. how does this sound:

SlothWorld
Set in a modern world. You log on and create a character. You then set its state to something like “Lay on couch and watch TV”, “Sit in front of computer and browze porn”, 'Get in car and go to fast food drive in".

Each state will only keep your character entertained for a general period of time, modified by attributes you set when creating your character ( such as Fat, AntiSocial, etc ). When that activity stops holding thier attention then he’ll get up and start wandering around looking for something productive to do. As long as you are productive you start loosing points, so you have to try to keep you character engrossed in time consuming, unproductive activities ( during which time you gain points ). The goal is to only have to log in rarely.

To keep you up to date, you will get emails from your character letting you know how they’re doing. Such as “I found this great site which links the Bush family to the Kennedy assasination. This will take at least six hours to read!”

What do you think? Should I patent it???
;D

#9

Not to beat a dead horse, but I have a “fair play” question on this topic.

If your avatar vanishes when you log out, what prevents players from just disconnecting as soon as they’re loosing a battle? The only thing I can think of to limit this cowardly exploit would be to make your avatar remain in-game, uncontrolled and generally defenseless for a few seconds ( 5 - 15 seconds ) after you log off.

This would encourage players to find a safe spot before logging off, and also if they try to log off while loosing a fight there’s a good chance they’ll be destroyed before they disappear completely. However, that may be “too harsh” so I’m not sure if it’s something else.

#10

thats usually inplented next to that if your battling your likely to be cought in the battle right wenn you log on too.

#11

Simple enough really. When you’re fighting anything in the game (i.e. you have been recently hit, and are still in a preset range of said thing that hit you), you enter a “combat state”. This, among modifying other in game abilities (some may require out of combat for stealth purposes) will modify the log off procedure such that you cannot exit the game the normal way. If you crash, you could still potentially exit, however at this point I think you should keep the character in game for 15-30 seconds, giving any opponent ample time to finish off said cowardly foe.

#12

I appreciate the comments. i’m glad to hear I wasn’t thinking too harshly when I thought if someone disconnected to try to avoid death they should be forced to “hang around” for a little while.

On the other side of the coin, let’s say someone has been playing for a couple hours and needed to log off. They were no where near a “safe zone” so they found a nice, quiet spot in the wilderness well off he travelled routes. When they log back on the next day, they discover that a group of hungry trolls has set up camp at that spot to feast on a group of dwarves they captured. Do you:

  1. Automatically give players entering the game a few seconds of invulnerability to “look around” and get their bearings.
  2. Set a “ENTRY_SAFE” flag to “true” if the player logged off from a safe location. If the location is no longer safe at log in, move the player a short distance in a random location so he’s still in a safe zone. If it was “false” at logout then he stays where he is. No invulnerability period is granted.
  3. Just let fate rule. If it’s a safe spot to login then great. If not, well, that’s fate. No invulnerability. Think fast or become stew.

My thought is to lean at #2. There would be complexity to the random movement to keep the character in an area already explored by them and that they could have gotten to from the entry zone ( don’t want to put them on the other side of a locked door for example ). But it seems most fair.

#13

This is called CADing in MMO jargon. (COntrol-Alt-Delete, the fastest way on an old DOS box to end your session.)

As many have noted the usual answer to cadding is to force you to stay in game for 15 or 30 seconds after you disconnect. Many games do this whenever you disconnect even if you are not currentl;y in combat (CoH/CoV for instance).

The down side is that the penalizes people with flaky connection who might have a genuine disconnect and get kileld while they are unable to respond. Alas there is NO way to tell a legitimate disconnect from a user turnign off their modem or pulling the cable out, so this is generally just accepted as a necessary limitation and players try not to play on flaky connections.

#14

Back when I used to play the original Command & Conquer on 1v1 dial-up connections there was one person that seemed to be able to play one game after another for hours on end with no connection issues…as long as he was winning. As soon as I snuck a bunch of stealh tanks into his base or successed in a daring capture raid of his manufacturing facilities, he would have a “problem” with his line and disconnect. He’d call me up all apologetically with an excuse like call-waiting beep messed him up or his wife had to use the phone for an emergency, and ask if we could restart.

That was when I determined if I ever make a multiplayer game it will carry some penalty for disconnects as a means of avoiding loss.

#15

thats hardly computergaming related, I mean howmany ppl accidentally bumbed against the board whilst playing chess or checkers?

c&c and it’s “game is out of sync” or was that with RA? those flamethrowing tanks weren’t nearly as cool as the mammot tanks. \o/

#16

Well true… but the distance and anonymity of the net make the likelyhood of real social repercussions much lower.

Which, unfortunately, encourages such behavior in some people.

#17

To answer your question what happens is when you log off after it has taken you out of the world your just non existant. your in a list of people not online thus there is no need for a “save zone”. When you log back on the game then will persue you the way it does any other player. This is why i can be outside the exit of a boss dungeon with a WoW penalty of being on too long, then log off wait a few hours come back get the xp bonus then kill the boss (assuming he is still there). Hope this makes any sence to you.

#18

@OP:
Many games simply plop you back to the place you just where.
Though that can be exploited.

If I were the designer… you can log out where you want, but your avatar will not.
Safe areas are good, though also exploitable.

Never underestimate how players will try and manipulate the game.
‘accidential’ disconnects right before losing is a common tactic.

Not really as the bonus was not that great.
Helped those that do not play as much as the other to at least not fall that far back compared to 24/7 players.

#19

Only problem with safe areas is that, if they arent easily reachable, you run into the “I gotta go NOW but Im gonan get scrod for it” real life v. the game problem.

#20

In order to limit the capabilities of abusive players, you have to set hard limits within the game. There are always cases where those limits will impact someone that had a legit problem or reason. But an honors system just does not work when people have no reason to be honorable.

This happens as much in real life as it does in the game world. We have situations where we take an action or risk that may have unwanted consequences for it. Sometimes this is because we think we can get away with it. Other times it is because we have other influences in our decision process that out weigh the potential risk. Speeding on the highway. Cheating on your taxes. Stealing pens from work. Logging out of a game that’s still in progress.

The rules have to exist and applied consistently. A ( hopefully ) small percentage of times it will catch and punish someone that had a legit situation. I believe it would be better to keep the level of punishment low and aligned with the “crime”, make sure all players know about these very clearly, and let the player plead thier case directly to the game admins if they feel it was not appropriate.