I really, really love comics-based games, which is to say like Crackdown, not Marvel and DC licensed games, though the only one I can think of off the top of my head that really allows good customization would be City Of Heroes. City of Heroes was, and still is, though I don't play it anymore due to financial reasons, an absolutely and completely brilliant game, with good roleplayers in the right places and an actually fun system, along with, again, heaps of customization options. But one of the things that bothers me with this, and really all MMORPGs, is the lack of content.
And I'm not saying that games should have the devs working nonstop to create new content, because I'm not quite that conceited. But I think, instead, everyone should be a dev. Not to say that everyone should get paid for generating content non-stop, no matter how shitty, but instead, games should have a very good dev base, and maybe even a stronger base for user content.
Let's say City Of Heroes, going back to that. As it stands, all the adventures, as good as they are, are all clearly written to the same standard, by the same group of people. And I don't really like that, it's like all the comics in the world are written by the same guys from Marvel. No, the virtual reality thing doesn't count, though that is user generated content, it just feels like the Danger Room from X-Men, which is kindof a cop-out. As it stands, it's good for an MMORPG, but it just doesn't feel like comics. So how about this; they add in a base, called "THE SUPERHERO'S UNION" or "THE SUPERHERO'S GUILD" or something like that. From the outside, it's this huge-ass building that has all the windows, a giant fancy skyscraper, the works. Nice and fun. And once you pass a minimum level, you get an option to join the Superhero's Guild or what-have-you. You go inside, and it's this epic building, filled with heroes, informants, and people being booked into jails. It feels like a living, bustling world once you go inside. And there's a content-generation place, labelled sometihng like "INFORMANTS HERE" and you can pick up missions in a place labelled something like "HEROES HERE." This is just hypothetical, I'm terrible at naming these things.
Anyway, of course, you go to heroes here, sort by your level and you see all these storylines, first of all devs picks, then highest rated, you know. The works. And you click on, you see "HELP: CITY IN DANGER: ALIENS ATTACK" or "EXTRA, EXTRA: SKATEBOARDING NAZIS ATTACKING PARAGON CITY". And yeah, there'd be a lot of stupid ones that are just labelled "fag" or something, but those would be at the bottom of the pile, low-rated and spat at by devs and such. And yeah, there'd be goofy ones, but those would be fun, teaming up with a guy in a red suit named Darren with energy powers to beat up skateboarding nazis, along with the very dark, scary ones. And maybe there'd be newspapers to pick up and if you just beat the skateboarding nazis, it'd say "EXTRA: DARREN BEATS SKATEBOARDING NAZIS" with a picture of the hero hauling a guy into the Superhero's Guild jail/prison thing.
And then, on the content generation side of things, you're given free reign to create maps, inside or outside, place buildings and props, place enemies and bosses, spawn points, the works, along with write dialogue and create NPC's and new villian groups and such, along with setting the in-game price for other people using their areas, continuing on their storylines, such and such. And maybe if you're really good the dev team will hire you to make adventures, who knows.
But my point is, games, or really MMO's, need to have more avenues for user-created content rather than just canned adventures by the dev's. Even if they're stupid and gimmicky, even if they're completely and utterly dumb, even if there's really no story methods and it's just killing things in cool and new places, that's fine. It's something new, something different from the typical devvy fetch quests. I think it'd be cool, at least.
So, Escapists; what do you think? MMO's should stay focused on self content, or at least open up for user-generated content?
And I'm not saying that games should have the devs working nonstop to create new content, because I'm not quite that conceited. But I think, instead, everyone should be a dev. Not to say that everyone should get paid for generating content non-stop, no matter how shitty, but instead, games should have a very good dev base, and maybe even a stronger base for user content.
Let's say City Of Heroes, going back to that. As it stands, all the adventures, as good as they are, are all clearly written to the same standard, by the same group of people. And I don't really like that, it's like all the comics in the world are written by the same guys from Marvel. No, the virtual reality thing doesn't count, though that is user generated content, it just feels like the Danger Room from X-Men, which is kindof a cop-out. As it stands, it's good for an MMORPG, but it just doesn't feel like comics. So how about this; they add in a base, called "THE SUPERHERO'S UNION" or "THE SUPERHERO'S GUILD" or something like that. From the outside, it's this huge-ass building that has all the windows, a giant fancy skyscraper, the works. Nice and fun. And once you pass a minimum level, you get an option to join the Superhero's Guild or what-have-you. You go inside, and it's this epic building, filled with heroes, informants, and people being booked into jails. It feels like a living, bustling world once you go inside. And there's a content-generation place, labelled sometihng like "INFORMANTS HERE" and you can pick up missions in a place labelled something like "HEROES HERE." This is just hypothetical, I'm terrible at naming these things.
Anyway, of course, you go to heroes here, sort by your level and you see all these storylines, first of all devs picks, then highest rated, you know. The works. And you click on, you see "HELP: CITY IN DANGER: ALIENS ATTACK" or "EXTRA, EXTRA: SKATEBOARDING NAZIS ATTACKING PARAGON CITY". And yeah, there'd be a lot of stupid ones that are just labelled "fag" or something, but those would be at the bottom of the pile, low-rated and spat at by devs and such. And yeah, there'd be goofy ones, but those would be fun, teaming up with a guy in a red suit named Darren with energy powers to beat up skateboarding nazis, along with the very dark, scary ones. And maybe there'd be newspapers to pick up and if you just beat the skateboarding nazis, it'd say "EXTRA: DARREN BEATS SKATEBOARDING NAZIS" with a picture of the hero hauling a guy into the Superhero's Guild jail/prison thing.
And then, on the content generation side of things, you're given free reign to create maps, inside or outside, place buildings and props, place enemies and bosses, spawn points, the works, along with write dialogue and create NPC's and new villian groups and such, along with setting the in-game price for other people using their areas, continuing on their storylines, such and such. And maybe if you're really good the dev team will hire you to make adventures, who knows.
But my point is, games, or really MMO's, need to have more avenues for user-created content rather than just canned adventures by the dev's. Even if they're stupid and gimmicky, even if they're completely and utterly dumb, even if there's really no story methods and it's just killing things in cool and new places, that's fine. It's something new, something different from the typical devvy fetch quests. I think it'd be cool, at least.
So, Escapists; what do you think? MMO's should stay focused on self content, or at least open up for user-generated content?