*Edit-Apparently the harassment that triggered my writing this was not, in fact, Blizzard. Just a Phisherman. Nonetheless, my criticisms still stand.

Two days ago, I got an e-mail from Blizzard Entertainment accusing me of trying to sell my World Of Warcraft account. Regardless of the fact that the e-mail is fraudulent, I feel offended by this because of the fact that I decided the game was lame and stopped playing shortly after level 25, feeling very cheated(and angry for having given in to peer pressure), and now am being harassed for by somebody who can’t even make a legitimate hack to steal my account with, I figured I would list, plainly, for the next company to develop one of these games, what would make it not suck, like World Of Warcraft does. All that unadulterated disgust I feel for MMORPG’s does nothing constructive. Instead, I’m going to list what I think would make a fantasy MMORPG not suck.

• Persistent worlds should have persistent characters. The player characters should become AI controlled(See Below) when the player logs out. All experience based penalties for player character death should be removed. This will also make it easier for those of use who go outside in the real world, too.

• AI control should have a list of player-like algorithms a la the Infinity Engine games, plus a slider system detailing attributes such as aggressive-passive,  courageous-cowardly, et cetera.
• Real Estate. Players should be given the option of purchasing an in-game home where they can store stuff, and where other players can break in. Also, sneak attack does not a rogue make. Burglary should be possible, as should beefing up security with technology, magic, animal companions, and the like.

• There should be no player factions at the start of the game. The fact that you are a night elf doesn’t mean you’re necessarily a benevolent tree-hugger. Maybe that works in a RTS, but in an RPG restricted alignments based on race are RETARDED. It denies an important part of the decision making process. NO STARTING FACTIONS!
• Don’t make everything a matter of going to a questgiver, accepting the quest, performing the task, repeat. Even the raids follow this basic format. If you keep doing this, you may as well make a single player game.
  • Make things interesting! Here’s an idea: Random zombie apocalypse! 24 in game hours where, if you die, intead of going to the graveyard you turn into a zombie for 1 hour first and fight against other players. For those who do not want to play a zombie, have 3 zombie AI’s. Slow Shambler, Rotting Quick, and Speedy Infected. Have some similarly wild and crazy extreme event happen once every month on a random day.
  • Here’s another! OMG that NPC kid said “The best item in the game is on top of that hill,” everybody fight over it! Why the hell not? It’s an MMO, give the players a reason to interact!
  • See if you can allow guilds to create their own quests.  An initiation rite that involves a custom in-game magic item specifically linked to the guild and it’s membership, for starters, would make joining a guild seem a lot less like a lame excuse for friends that eventually turns into an over-regulated raid obligation. I know this might be difficult to implement, but just give it a thought.
  • That took me what, like 20 seconds? People get paid the big bucks to think of  less cool stuff than this.
• Get rid of the class/level system. Instead, go rank-advancement based, and make the differences smaller. I mean for everything. Skills. Hit Points. Magic spells. Hypothetically – Each enemy is now worth from 1-5 XP and you spend from 1-100 XP to advance a skill. Each skill becomes more difficult to advance as it increases. The player can choose a set number of skills that start at a considerable advantage, 45,40,30,25,20. Skill resolution becomes percentile based, and anybody can get any skill, with a limit of 1/12 the total number of skills. Now all the characters have ceased to have identical skills and levels of power. People can actually play a different role than every other player of their class and level.
• Make creating/enchanting items not boring, tedious, and inflexible. Give people a chance to put more than one enchantment on an item if they have sufficient levels in the enchantment skill. That way, they can elect to not just build up to the epic items and be another cookie-cutter level80. Also, Don’t make it a new design to dye a shirt a different color. I can tie-dye in my kitchen.

Make the MMOS different from the single player games in any way you can, PLEASE! I hate the cookie cutter characters, the silly, stupid quest format, the fact that people disappear when they log out, the lack of customizability, and the frankly racist alignment system. It drives me crazy when a game has potential but rejects that in favor of more of the same, safe, monotonous gameplay.  Make it worth paying monthly. Make having other players a meaningful part of the game. And most of all, allow the characters to be DIFFERENT!

Classic.

Maybe I don’t approve of the methods employed by Anonymous, but the idea of the internet being the last bastion of free speech is one that is very real to me. As such, even though I don’t blog about politics anymore, I’d like people to see this and wonder about the day to day judgements that can start conflicts we are not ready for.

Uncovered: The truth behind the AT&T 4chan Block

Step Three: Schedule Classes

In almost all RPG’s, a characters special skills are enumerated by category. In the Hogwarts RPG, we instead use 2 skill types, “Classes” and “Experiences.” Classes are skills that you can pick up by taking a class in that field, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions. They are leveled up on a scale of 1 to 7(For each year at Hogwarts) using points recieved in game. More on character advancement later. Experiences are skills that are taken as a result of backstory(Step Zero Again!) or significant in game occurences and rarely change. For instance, being versed in muggle cleaning could be an attribute of the Weasley boys, since that was a punishment they received for their various mischiefs. Another example would be Harry Potter’s abnormal resistance to Voldemort’s curses. These are on a scale of 1 to 4 OR can be given a percentage value(17, 33, 50, 66, 84, 100), and typically involve a bonus or skill that would only be used in a specific and somewhat unusual situation.

To use a class, choose an ability from that class and roll 2d6. Add the relevant stat(Ex. Expelliarmus(Easy Spell, Will based, Roll greater than 6 to cast)) and the number of years your student has taken the class. If the number is equal to or higher than the listed difficulty, you are successful.

GM Sidenote: Experiences are a little tricky for new gamers, because as a game designer, I cannot possibly imagine the breadth of experience that a schoolful of wizarding children would have. I therefore include examples and rough scales, but not lists or mechanics. The GM must guage the validity and extent of the experience and how he is willing to allow it to affect his game. Here are some examples from before

Experience Example: Muggle Cleaning

1. The character was told to clean with muggle methods, by someone who had only a vague idea what those methods entailed.
2. The character is fascinated by muggles and study’s the innocuous details of their lives, but often fails to understand their method of cleaning without magic.
3. The character was raised by muggles and had a normal set of daily chores, and thus has some experience cleaning using muggle means.
4. The character was responsible for more than appropriate amounts of housework and has learned muggle cleaning thoroughly.

Experience Example: Spell Resistance(Imperius Curse)

• 17% The character can resist the Imperius Curse 17%(1 on 1d6) of the time because of repeated exposure.
• 33% The character can resist the Imperius Curse 33%(1-2 on 1d6) of the time because of familiarity.
• 50% The character can recognize the effects of the Imperius Curse in others as well as resist the curse 50%(1-3 on 1d6) of the time, due to repeated exposure and familiarity.
• 66% The character has recieved limited training in recognizing and defending agains the Imperius Curse, and can resist 66%(1-4 on 1d6) of the time.
• 84% The character has recieved special training as an Auror, Order of the Pheonix Member, or scholar(professor) of the dark arts and can resist 84%(1-5 on 1d6) of the time.
• 100% The character has a supernatural ability that allows him to ignore the effects of the Imperius Curse, either from a specific source or universally.