This sounds pretty exciting, from the promise that "grinding" will not be what the game revolves around. The moral desicions you make will have consequences etc etc.
Anyway i think i will watch for Beta sign ups for this one!
http://www.middle-earthonline.com/index.php?section=news&article=teamletter020504
Balancing realism and fun game-play is one of the greatest challenges in game development. The right amount of realism can immerse players in the game experience, and give them a more enjoyable experience. On the other hand, too much realism can quickly become boring. After all, who wants to play a simulation of the same boring things we play games to escape? Our job as developers is to factor in both concerns and achieve a balance that is fun and immerse. This month we’re proud to announce a feature for MEO that we think achieves this balance perfectly.
One of the ways that online games depart from reality is the ability to automatically find out basic information about anyone they meet. Do you think that people in The Lord of the Rings would have treated Aragorn differently throughout the books if every time they looked at him they saw:
Name: Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, Elfstone, Strider, Longshanks, Wingfoot, Elessar, Thorongil, Estel, Telcontar, The Dunedan, the Renewer, Isildur's Heir
Race: Man of Gondor, of Isildur's Line
Class: Ranger, Healer, Isildur's Heir
Alignment: Pure Good
Statistics: Hobbit Friendship: Uber
Speechifying: Uber
Dramatic Fate: Uber
(*these statistics are jokes. They do not reflect actual MEO statistics )
People’s perspective would have been much different, and that could have easily changed the course of events that lead to the downfall of Sauron.
From a story telling and role-playing perspective, player anonymity is a good thing, but it could be frustrating for other gamers. This topic has been discussed many times in the community forums.
Ahh, the dilemma. In most MMPs when a player examines another player they can see all of their vital statistics. However, role-players and players who enjoy a high level of realism would prefer not to see these statistics, as it ruins immersion. After seeing so many posts on this topic in the forums, The MEO Team started to debate, and we came up with a solution. We’ll let you decide! Players in MEO will have the ability to mark themselves as anonymous. An anonymous character will show their name but no other details about who they are when they are examined in-game. Player anonymity increases the level of realism, and gives a useful tool to our role-playing community.
We’re excited about this new feature in MEO, and we hope you enjoy it as well!
Namarie,
The MEO Team
lol Dramatic Fate: Uber |