|
|
 |
| [Jan 08, 2013, 10:19 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
A new mod on Skyrim Nexus for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim called "Interesting NPCs" looks to make encounters with the AI populace of Bethesda's RPG sequel less like being trapped by a bore at a cocktail party. This is a work in progress, and here's how it's described: "This is a project to add color and life to Skyrim through three dimensional NPCs. Each character is integrated into the world, with a backstory and an extensive dialogue tree to explore. Many of these characters are fully voiced by a talented team of over 50 voice actors. The dialogue choices allow you to role-play, providing humor and depth to each conversation. You can be a jerk or a jester, a white knight or an assassin, as the most important character is you." Thanks Batman via Kotaku.
Post Comment
Enter the details of the comment
you'd like to post in the boxes below and click the button at
the bottom of the form.
 |
| 6. |
Re: Skyrim Interesting NPD Mod |
Jan 8, 2013, 12:46 |
PropheT |
|
|
Jivaro wrote on Jan 8, 2013, 11:38:
Bill Borre wrote on Jan 8, 2013, 11:21:
When I play mmos I am always surprised by the fact that the devs do not build the game around that the fact that you are playing with other human beings. Maybe some day an mmo will be designed with this as the key consideration.
I suspect that from a design perspective the key word would be "reliability". As in the gamers themselves are not exactly known for it. Everything that is designed to rely on other gamers (guilds, auction houses, and PVP for example) becomes quite a bit less reliable then everything that doesn't (grinding quests, fast travel, npc merchants, etc).
The other key word would be "control". Every time you put the game in hands of the participants you inevitably give up quite a bit of control. Nothing has been the same since Lord British was killed. (joking, but I think you get my meaning)
Stockholders and publishers want control and reliability as part of the business model, for all the obvious reasons.
I don't think it's just stockholders and publishers; the players do, too, even if they attribute that need to something else.
The key thing about MMO's, at least how they are now and have been, is that anything in the game needs to have some sort of "push button, receive reward" design to it. The second something doesn't have that sort of design, players will try to find a way to exploit it in a way that achieves that goal anyway. A conversation tree would be quickly broken down into ideal paths to best rewards, for example, and then the human factor comes in and they interpret exclusion into the community as a result (you didn't choose this, so you can't do that with us).
World of Warcraft is the most used example of dumbing-down a game and simplifying it, but it's not something that was simplified just to appeal to a larger audience; it was done to give some of that reliability back to the players and get back some of their control over the encounters in the game...since the more freedom their human component has to bastardize the system for exclusionary benefit the more they'll divide the world into haves and have nots.
Basically, player-driven content is anarchy without strict and specific laws designed into the gameplay to restrict their ability to destroy their environment. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Twitter 
