A word on publicity

[Dyson]

After reading the page, I'm convinced that Arcanity could be the coolest new MMRPG to come out in a while, but that's only after I read the the page in its entirety...respectfully saying, I think the wording in some of your sections (notably "so what") needs a little work, as they make it sound like your designers haven't played very many MMRPGs.
The most glaring things I noticed were the following:
1. "You'll also not find artificial restraints on players attacking other players. It's a game world, not an elementary school playground."
As we know from your Sept 14th interview, the Arcanity approach to PvP is innovative, sophisticated, and seems to (simply enough) have a lot of thought put into it. However, on the "so-what" page, you basically describe it as the Ultima Online "no rules, 'cept in town, where the guards kill you." If a player doesn't want to spend the time reading the rest of your page, the "so-what" section will definately give them the wrong impression.

2. The bounty system you've set up. The concept of "post money on murderers" presented without many other details sounds like many current MMRPGs. You need to provide more details on why your system is so new and innovative.

3. Games without static spawn spots are not a new thing; UO (I hate to keep using this example, but its one of the early and well-known MMRPGs) originally had a very complex "ecology" system, which the designers spent many months tweaking to make sure it worked "just right." Why is UO now a static spawn playground? Simple answer: The players. Within two days, the players had killed most of the benign animals so they could practice weapons at low-levels, killing off most of the higher level animals and essentially decimating the landscape. When most of the plants were completely harvested for all they were worth, the remaining animals died. After "resetting" the worlds several times, Origin gave up and instituted the spawning system that they use today.
In short, make sure you detail your spawning system and its innovations whenever it's mentioned, wherever it's mentioned. Otherwise, you may be discounted by veteran players, a demographic no gaming company can afford to alienate.

I'm not trying to come across as preachy- I really love what you're doing with Arcanity, and I want the game to get the publicity it needs and deserves. That's why I'm making these suggestions.

-Dyson

[Rolfe]

Thanks very kindly for your suggestions, Dyson. It looks like you might have some good points and we'll be looking into them very soon.

[Dyson]

Rolfe: Thank you. For the record, I'd just like to say that I think your game looks like the most interesting in development so far. It's rare that one finds a company that with people that:
1. Is creative and has intelligent ideas
2. Has the technical skills to actually start building a game
3. Actually listens to the boards and ask for input (I was particularly interested in the Race question). I think we all remember the sordid Middle Earth development saga several months back; I bet it's no coincidence the parent company hasn't been nearly as successful lately.

[Lordosis]

Dyson, thanks for the well thought out post. Some of the text you're referring to (notably the so what? section) is starting to become a little dated. It was written earlier this year when our design was less detailed than it is now. Unfortunately, we don't have a guy specifically to do publicity and webmastering. Those jobs basically fall on Rolfe and myself, respectively. So they sometimes take a back seat to the job at hand, namely the designing and coding. When in doubt, the last published material is the authority. Next time I have a few free hours, I am going to compile much of the information from our interviews, and from our message boards as well, into a well organized FAQ.

Let me just respond to the specific issues you pointed out:

(1) Indeed, you are right. When we wrote that, we basically were trying to get across the point that Arcanity will allow PvP and that there will be no "care bear" servers. But I can see how it might be miscontrued. I'll add it to the "to-fix" list.

(2) I haven't played a MMORPG with a bounty system yet. I actually got the idea from TradeWars 2000 and other BBS games I was addicted to in high school. Maybe UO has it, I never got into UO because of the horror stories. One example of an innovative feature here is the ability to find "clues" as to the whereabouts of a wanted person. If a wanted "criminal" isn't careful, he/she will leave behind a trail of information that will help lead bouty hunters to find them. So it will hopefully be more of a fugitive/detective type system than just a random system where if you happen to see someone with a bounty on their head, you can kill them and get some extra spending cash.

(3) True, games without static spawns are nothing new. But they are something that any new, innovative game has to avoid, us included. Again, I never played UO, but it doesn't sound like they really planned out their dynamic spawn engine very well. I am desiging a spawn engine that literally monitors "monster" densities per unit area of land and can spawn new "monsters" accordingly. It obviously is a little more involved than that, and has many parameters that we can set to modify it's behavior, but that's the basic idea.

We definitely want the veterans to feel welcome in Arcanity. We won't have any hardcore macroing, etc, like some veterans want. This is mostly so we don't end up "punishing" the casual and newer players. Well, it's also for realism. But if we do it right, you won't even WANT to macro. But I digress. We will definitely address the issues you bring up next time we write up new info and when we update the old info.

[Dyson]

I understand completely about the page taking a backseat to programming. Good thing, too- if you took a poll, most people would probably rather have you making a kickass game then editing the page. :) Anyway, to (hopefully) help you save time, I made a slightly edited version of the "so what" text. Don't look at me weird- I don't usually have the whole day free to surf the web. Just a lucky gap, right now.
~~
Basics

Arcanity will include all of the basic aspects inherent to MMORPGs. Players will choose a race,
balance their stats, and enter the world. There will be weapons, armor, spells, and other items to
choose from. Some items will be purchased in towns and other items will be unique. The same
goes for spells, some will be purchased in towns and others will be unique and either must be
researched or sought out. But this is not to say that Arcanity will be LIMITED to the basics.
Quite the contrary, it will include many innovative and interestingly original aspects.


Rules of Player Interaction

With regard to PVP, player disagreements, and the overall player interaction, Arcanity will not place contrived, out-of-game restraints on players, like GMs who swoop down to and force you to "place nice."
You will however, feel like a fugitive if you commit crimes, due to an innovative system of checks and balances to help keep the lawful areas lawful and the wild areas wild. This isn't to say, however, that what constitutes "lawful" is the same for everyone; if you're a criminal, guards and bounty hunters (of both the player and NPC variety) will make sure you have plenty of challenges coming your way. For players who've been wronged, the cities will have places to put out "hits" on your foes, join with allies of similar viewpoints, or simply bulk with new skills & tactics.

If and when they are needed or desired, new measures for in-game law (prisons, assembled teams of bounty hunters, even whole armies sent against an outlaw stronghold) will be enacted. Make no mistake, this is not a game where the player's life comes last, nor is it a place for pampered whiners protected by invincible Jon Laws.


Spawning

One of the most interesting aspects of Arcanity is that the world is dynamic. Where a goblin camp
in Everquest will never grow or migrate, a goblin camp in Arcanity will be far more intelligent and
realistic. Goblin camps will grow in population. As more goblins join the camp, a leader will
emerge. When players kill a goblin, he doesn't respawn. So if a group of players slaughters a
goblin camp, the camp doesn't reappear; it is very possible, however, for other creatures to later
migrate into the area and start another camp. If no one stops the growth, well, the camp eventually evolves into a golbin town, city, or even kingdom. Of course, the goblin example is only one case- there are a whole lot of monsters in the world and they all are forces to be reckoned with in one way or another.
By the way, this applies to NPC and player cities as well- if no one shows up to defend the capital, you just may be living your next few days under the bony fist of an undead tyrant.


Technology

Another unique aspect of Arcanity lies in the setting of the world. Since the world was relatively
advanced in technology before the spell was cast, there will be conservative use of modern
technology in the world. That means the high level players may be able to get a hold of explosives,
high-tech armor, or even guns and laser weapons. What inhabitants of the world refer to as
ancient ruins are in actuality the runes of the modern world destroyed by the cataclysm (these areas would be good places to find caches of advanced technology, if one is brave enough to explore them).


Future Expansion

There are lots of other unique aspects which are planned for Arcanity, including the ability to start a town, keep, castle, school of training, new class of character, or even become a god. The possibilities are endless, and the Arcanity team is determined to bring you a world of a truly endless and ever-changing nature.

[Slitherrr]

Whoa, do you work for PR in some company? If not, you might want to look into it...

[Lordosis]

Hehe, you kick ass, Dyson. I'm gonna go ahead and use that on the real page itself. That's taking it to a new level, man. That's like sending us source code instead of just suggesting a game feature. Or like sending us finished 3D models instead of just an idea for a new race. That's unheard of. That's awesome!!! I'm doubling your salary!!!!

If I wasn't so tired, I'd post it now, but it will have to wait till tomorrow.

Hehehe, I still can't get over this. :)

[toray]

In that case, please define Jon Laws :)

[Dyson]

Jon Laws- Any sort of overpowered peacekeeper. (UO's invincible guards, for instance. If you're caught picking pockets, one appears next to you and kills you in one shot.)

[Scrote]

Nice work there Dyson, I'm impressed you donated your time in such a kind and productive and UN-cynical manner. Uncynical? You for real Scrote?

Whatever, I'm still impressed. One suggestion though: keep the EQ reference out of the Spawning paragraph, and maybe tone down the other more subtle references to UO & EQ. The reason I feel the text would be best off without that is because I feel those games are so UTTERLY CRAP that any comparison to them is unfair on Arcanity. Know what I mean? It's been said before on these boards - they're not using those UTTERLY CRAP games as a yardstick so it'd probably be best to avoid even going near those UTTERLY CRAP games.

Otherwise, nice one man. Nice one.

S'right,
Scrote