2010/7/13 Xavier Antoviaque <[email protected]> > > have had a lot of comments, opinions and experiences that show that a > lot of players don't think about the game in a strategic way - I have > yet to talk to one player who becomes thrilled at the idea of > "controlling the biggest part of the Web". Hacking one or two pages is > fun, but accumulating pages to earn more hack points doesn't seem to > entice people a lot... > > I would not say that players are not interested in controlling the web, from what I've seen of playtests and discussions. I've seen that players are not interested in chain hacking web sites and earning hack points, that is right. But given that to do that, currently in the game, there is no reward, no challenge, no perspective, weak accessibility, it is hard for me to jump to the conclusion that players are not interested in the whole concept of gaining control on the web. I agree also that players don't like to have other players ruin their work by stealing too easily web sites, so we must be careful with the PvP aspect and rethink it.
First, it's really not a promise - it's what I wrote, a message. : ) > Something that is communicated to the player. "Things you own end up > owning you" doesn't need to be a big feature where AIs wake up and stop > listening to the player. While the game is small, it can be as simple as > making us feel, as players, that our quest to gain more AIs/websites is > not purely to help AIs - it's also to help ourselves and own nice toys. > Usually, the 'promise', even if the word itself can be discussed, is the sum up of the experience of the player, what the game offers him, this is why it is put first in documents, before the description of the game exp in length, the target, of the features. And, to keep discussing word choices, I don't think our game should have a global 'message', the game is providing an experience where the player will find the message he wants. Providing a 'message' is politics for me, and our game should provide ambiguity and freedom of choice according to me. All in all, I think that "Things you own end up owning you" is an interesting line that can cover some part of the game, but it's not the message/promise/catchline (whatever the name we give it) that describes the overall experience. For me the overall exp is still an adventure on the web where I discover and interact with AIs and, in the process, gain control over the web which provides me resources and knowledge that will in return enrich my relation with AIs... Well, this is absolutely not yet a catchline, just trying to gather my thoughts on what I see currently. > I think it could be a fundamental part of the game mechanisms - it could > be the main thing that makes the player come back every day. We can come > back to not lose a website, but if this website is incarnated into an AI > that need anthropomorphic care, you get a much strong tie. > > I'm not sure about the AI incarnating a web site, I still think it is interesting to keep the distinction between the web sites that the player owns (which act as resources, a little bit like apples or cows in farmville - not same mechanism though) and the AIs, who can exist as NPCs, or mission givers, or tools that help me own sites. > I like the adventure theme, though it's probably too large here, it > doesn't say what it is precisely. And btw, adventure doesn't necessarily > mean war or even combat... > > Let's try to find a mouthful expression to make it more precise; for me > it draws from the following genres: > - Alternate reality games (for the story-telling part with a community) > - Pet caring/life simulation games (taking care of the AIs) > - Sandbox games (the GTA missions/story in a vast place that can be > explored) > > It could give "life simulation alternate reality game" - ARGs encompass > the adventure/social/storyline part, the life simulation encompass the > AI caring part and the sandbox-style play style. > > I think about games like In memoriam here, casual ARGs. > > Another way to represent what I'm talking about would be to imagine In > memoriam, but where the puzzle games are replaced by tasks asked by the > AI to make it evolve, and with more social interactions (multiplayer > missions more like what we find in traditional ARGs when you reach a > certain level). > It's interesting. I agree with the fact that the ARG is great as an upper layer that provides adventure/storyline and part of social (not all social, because I see exchanging resources/fighting for resources/teaming up for control of sites as possible social features). And that below this ARG layer, we need basic mechanisms that make the player come back everyday, based on exploiting territory, using the resources that are produced on this territory, expanding this territory, etc. Yes this is a sim, but I'm not sure between a sim life like sims, or a sim like simcity, or something different. I need to think more about the overall objective for the player in order to get back to you on this with more ideas.
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