Atypical PBBG idea

[Jackolantern]

I have been mulling over this idea for a couple of weeks now, but I don't know how well it could work. Basically, the game world would be maintained through the db/scripts and/or crons, just like most other games. But instead of having links and buttons to click to perform actions, and a separate chat box for basically OOC chat, the game would almost entirely consist of the chat box. The game would be largely roleplay-based, and would share some elements with MUDs, except even MUDs could be seen as more restrictive.

Instead, players learn certain trigger commands that they can embed in text that they type in. For example, say I am in a room with a couple of players, and want to pull a lever on the wall. I could type something like:

Code: Select all

<me> && interact lever -s &&, while staring at Jeeves, saying "I hope this doesn't kill us"

Assuming your character's name is Bob, everyone else would see this:

Code: Select all

 Bob pulls the lever, while staring at Jeeves, saying "I hope this doesn't kill us"

Besides adding the text with the proper verb form (the -s at the end of the command would control tense, so you could also use -ed for past tense), the command would also affect the world, and commands like this would be the primary form of interaction, with such other command verbs like push, pull, attack, cast, take, steal, hail, etc. It would also change the names to pronouns correctly for the player who made the command ("Bob" to "I"), or you could even make it change to "he" or "she" for another player if the other player has not been introduced to you.

The idea of a game like this would be to unshackle players who are looking for more of a rich roleplaying experience, where the game changes from the main source of the events and story to simply being a backdrop for player-driven roleplaying. This way players would have some basic structure in the game world (they can't simply say they have killed a monster when they haven't, since anyone can see it is still there), a built-in combat and item system and other game-related infrastructure, but they are free to plan and live in a story of their own creation. Other typical game conventions could even be bent a bit, such as offering custom dungeons that players can name and create their own mobs in to assist in story-telling, and other such things.

What do you think about something like this? While it likely would not appeal to mainstream MMO and PBBG players, it could perhaps appeal more to traditional table-top RPG players and roleplaying enthusiasts who turn to such basic mediums as IM clients and forums to have free-form roleplaying sessions.

[Callan S.]

I think an idea is to write a mock up of what an average sequence would be like, over say a ten minute period (or some real life time period). Fill out what the players are saying to each other, what commands they are taking in the mock up, etc.

Really I think the benefit of games is not freedom, but instead constriction. People just see it the other way around for perceptual reasons, ie they say they have the freedom to go climb a mountain in oblivion - they don't see that actually they are constricted from just saying 'I'm at the top of the mountain'. That they actually have less freedom than they do with their normal imagination. And that necessity/constriction is the mother of invention/creativity.

[Jackolantern]

I do believe that many gamers probably would not like the freedom to it. And of course by "freedom", I don't mean total freedom. The game would have some set goals, monsters would exist on their own, combat is strictly by the game's mechanics, etc.

I spent quite a while on roleplay servers in various MMORPGs, and the things I heard the most from those players were that they wanted less restriction on their roleplay. so much of it had to be fudged because the game was basically saying something else was happening than what the roleplayers were saying.

I don't know. I do know it would have fairly limited appeal, which would be mostly those roleplayers who can be found in games such as WoW or EQ spending their whole day walking (not running lol) around the city in "rp attire" and spouting lines to their friends. Most other gamers consider that these people are just wasting time, and they are often the most hated people on their server for some reason haha.

[PaxBritannia]

This may be taking the idea too far, but you could have all commands passed through a modified REST-like api.

Players/guilds would be able to build their own interfaces on top of that and modify their playing experience in a way that suits them.

If your game is targeting the specific group of people, then I think it would be extremely immersive.

pax.

[62896dude]

or even if you wanted to make it truly stand out, (though this probabally would be extremely difficult and time consuming) you could create a different animation, or even graphic that can appear in the background of your screen every time that you actually do something so the player feels like they are 'doing it' more.

Just an idea

[hallsofvallhalla]

this could actually be done very easily as I was basing results off a returned ajax string.

Example would be you send the string

"Hey guys I am going to ride my horse."

once you hit enter ajax grabs the phrase and pushes it to the DB. On the server side it parses the words and finds nothing so it sends it to the chat window.

Next you chat -mount horse

ajax grabs it and breaks out the words using explode and finds the -..a if($explodeddata == "-") then it is a command.

It then takes whats after the - and compares it to the database where one table is commands and then in there tells the server what to do. Like change "ismounted" feild to 1 then sends a result to the window of "Jack mounts steed"

[Jackolantern]

That is basically what I was thinking. Just use an uncommon command delimiter, in the same way PHP inside HTML uses. Something users won't probably need to type normally, but could be typed quickly, like %% or =+. Then, as you said, pulling it out would be simple.

[Klown]

Im sure this is somewhat off topic. But i use to be one of those AOL kids who wrote "proggies" in vb for a short while. In the last few years of proggies development, it was desired to make them "chat comm" enabled rather than a bunch of button clicks. The way it was accomplished was to have a master list of commands each with a trigger, such as "." or a "-" this would be what is searched for and any 1 or two word command after the trigger would be compared to a list of commands. then a function was called based on the triggered command, its a very simple process, and to make the learning curve easy for all new players you add a ".list" or a ".help" command do the list so when that list is typed either a list of commands is scrolled in chat or in a separate window or table. Not sure if the technical aspect is anything concerning to you , but i would imagine the storyline being the hardest part of this idea. Which i think the idea of an old mud based rpg idea pretty appealing.. brings be back a few years!

-klown

[Callan S.]

I spent quite a while on roleplay servers in various MMORPGs, and the things I heard the most from those players were that they wanted less restriction on their roleplay. so much of it had to be fudged because the game was basically saying something else was happening than what the roleplayers were saying.

What did they actually want to be 'doing'?

It might not apply at all, but one thought is that you get 'contrary roleplayers'. Like you make it they can't be the mayor of a town...so they instantly start roleplaying that one of them is the mayor. It's not that the restrictions are cramping their style - it's that they actively find the restrictions and try and contravene them via roleplay.

But beyond that, if there's they want to roleplay certain things, well you can probably design something that lets their roleplay determine how those things turn out. If they want to roleplay those things and you enable it, it doesn't matter if other things are restricted, that should fit what they want really well. Unless they are contrary roleplayers.

[Jackolantern]

What did they actually want to be 'doing'?

Making up storylines and playing them out. I am telling you, many of these people free-form roleplay in IM clients where there are no restrictions, as well as RP in WoW while complaining about the oppressive environment. I am just wondering if you are not familiar with this small, though loyal, player segment.