I just sent an email to all my ex-guildies i left at DDO - the game so bad i had to play TOEE to remind me D&D wasn't ALWAYS aimed at the 13 yr-old cartoon/power ranger demographic... Decided it just might amuse this crowd here which i think is a little more my 'demographic'...:nosebleed I was playing temple of elemental evil i had restarted a patch or some such on another computer so just to goof off i started a fresh game; i thought i'd see what the neutral and evil starting 'vignettes' looked like. i was a little shocked by the evil starting vignette - not to spoil it if you havent played but - i guess i didnt expect to be pillaging RIGHT OFF> In no time i found myself in the spirit of piratey-pillaging-ness; and quickly had a reputaion that meant anyone in Hommlett would attack me on sight... (unfortunately the local 'law' wont actively chase you down if you're not fool enough to wander into their areas)... I quickly found myself having to hide OUTSIDE town (at the tower of the moathouse; ironically) in order to rest or recuperate... LATER THAT NIGHT... I was telling my GF the same story; and i joked how ironic it was that i'd gone to the moathouse and killed the bandits - and now become a bandit; hiding at the moathouse... "any second i expected YOUR party to come tromping up sent by the church or the lords to kill the 'new' bandits" and then i realized that is EXACTLY what i'd like to see in a game - my friends are used to me talking about a 'persistent' world that takes advantage of all the players? WHY NOT? you cant expect an AI to respond to what i was doing - i mentioned the village authorities not ACTIVELY responding to my actions... People who have played with me in DDO are familiar with my insistence that the AI is good enough for low-intelligence MINIONS at best... certainly it can run mosters of animal intelligence well enough... But they are also familiar with my 'LOOKING FOR BOSS' suggestion; why depend solely on 'artificial intelligence' when you can take advantage of the SINGLE GREATEST RESOURCE availale to an online game - REAL INTELLIGENCES just looking for something to play ... THATS what I'd like to see - a PERSISTENT world that; when i murder Elmo in the street for his magic battleax and chain mail (whoopsie!); he's dead when my GF comes on to play later... and she's free to go Hunt Down & confront those murdering marauders! theres a bunch of if and or butts; but thats basically what im getting at - i'd like a game that actually mOVES on let a plot advance NATURALLY. Don't worry' you'll get no shortage of villains! and yes; have available player versus 'environment' - monsters that are always; purely ai - semi-intelligent monsters and yes; they WILL get cleared out - i realize that. GOOD. let people advance a frontier; let them clear out land.. LET IT NOT BE STATIC!
