Who remembers the short lived "be a monster" feature?

**nilbog** · #1 09-07-2011, 08:30 AM

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ftw

miethos · #2 09-07-2011, 08:40 AM

Thanks, I didn't know the official name. I see its already been discussed quite a bit. Sorry for the repost!

Humerox · #3 09-07-2011, 08:43 AM

nah, always fun to discuss...just wanted to show you some others that wax nostalgic about it. it was a cool feature.

Nytewind TP · #4 09-07-2011, 08:55 AM

Here is one, I have a few more. Spawned as a Goblin in LOIO

Atmas · #5 09-07-2011, 12:47 PM

That was a fun time.

I remember at one point a 59 druid in NK was oocing that he was buffing people playing NPCs. I ran by him a few minutes later and saw a ring of dead animals.

Nytewind TP · #6 09-07-2011, 01:57 PM

The one fun time I remember is when you were able to spawn as an orc in GFay. People would die over and over to spawn as an orc then everyone would rush the baby wood elves.

stormlord · #7 09-07-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nytewind TP [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The one fun time I remember is when you were able to spawn as an orc in GFay. People would die over and over to spawn as an orc then everyone would rush the baby wood elves.

I bet that had something to do with why they shut it down.

Still, it seems that it had potential, just not enough developer interest.

I think they did this partly as a preparation for monster missions.

But monster missions were a lot more linear. Not nearly as interesting, but easier to control and safer. And remember that 'interesting' does not always mean fun. Non-linear can be a good thing and a bad thing. Fun or boring or terrible.

The non-linear nature is what ultimately killed it, I think. It's hard to design a non-linear game. Maybe you have to make the game with less strict rewarding mechanisms otherwise players inevitably fall on their face and get hurt. And if the content is designed for particular circumstances, non-linear 'events' can throw it off and break the balance. So content can't be strict either. It has to be fluid and possibly changing, depending on what's going on around it.

It boils down to control. If something is too non-linear, players might not feel in control; vulnerable. It's fun to dish it out to NPCreatures and even cheat them, but what if they do that to us? Not always fun or predictable, is it?

In other words, non-linear games aren't made to make us have fun. They just ARE. There's no one there to guarantee protection from the wild or from the thieves. It requires a special player to 'enjoy' this kind of game.

So I don't ever see non-linear games being particularly commercially successful. Not until the vast majority of gamers aren't playing to have fun, but rather to experience the ups and downs of a world that doesn't care about you.

By ups and downs, I mean times when it feels like a game and times when it feels like torture. Maybe if you don't get enough torture in real life then you seek it in a game. But most people just want to get away from RL to have fun. It could be that some people seek out torture for other reasons. Maybe they want to understand the meaning of life? Or maybe they're addicted to the pain that accompanies loss. People get stuck on all sorts of things, it's impossible to know.

I admit right here that I like non-linear games. I think I like them because I'm trying to understand RL. What is it? Why are things? What is pain? Using computers to understand it is safer, anyway. RL is a dangerous place.