Here is something cool that almost was. I am not writing it to bash the game in question. I am writing to make a suggestion about a cool concept that could be introduced into HJ if it had a tootsie roll center instead of a rock.
When I played SWG (in beta and at launch) we had been told *cough* that we could unlock a Jedi character, but how that would be done was a deeply guarded mystery. Now, I hasten to add I am NOT advocating "unlocked" classes - that's not the cool part.
The cool part was that the entire SWG community was awed by this mystery and a great many people were devoted to solving it, or at least were intrigued by it. We talked about it. We theorized. We debated. We had entire websites devoted to various ideas and discussions of the merits of those ideas. Talk about community building! It was great.
But that's still not the coolest part. The coolest part was that the prevailing theory at the time was that to become a Jedi you needed to experience the entire game, because any and all game content could potentially be on a hidden check list of things you needed to do to become a Jedi. Because of that, this was the ONLY mmorpg I have ever played where it didn't matter what kind of gamer you were (casual/power/roleplay/whatever) a large number of people from all playstyles were motivated to drink life to the lees, so to speak, and try to do everything the game had to offer. People were afraid to powergame straight through and ignore the content because all of that content was potentially relevant.
I knew people who made maps of every single thing in a zone and would go and look at each one of them. Not just look too - study, write about, etc. Even the smallest delivery quests were undertaken. Writings on walls and ruins were analyzed. Things spoken by NPCS were scrutinized and quoted.
Having a shared mystery to solve was the most exciting and fascinating thing I have ever done in a mmorpg until ...
.... the utterly craptastic revelation that (1) it was highly suspect, if not outright untrue, that the Jedi code was even in at launch, and (2) the way to become a Jedi was to grind out professions until you ground out the ones designated for your character that unlocked the slot.
:angry:
This led to a period of grinding like no other, which was a nightmare, and sucked the very life out of the game for me at least. I don't have to detail the mess that followed after that because it is well known.
But getting back to the cool part. I hope that HJ has one or more major mysteries that will similarly intrigue and captivate the playerbase. Something important enough that they will talk about it and feel motivated to experience all the game content, not just bits and pieces of it. Something that will inspire communities of people to come together and try to solve the puzzle. I can't tell you how many people I met and got to know just because a group had assembled to talk about their take on the path to Jedi. Even if you knew nothing else about another player, you knew you could talk about that hehe. It was a common bond.
Of course, I would like the Hollywood ending to that story this time and not a rock.
When I played SWG (in beta and at launch) we had been told *cough* that we could unlock a Jedi character, but how that would be done was a deeply guarded mystery. Now, I hasten to add I am NOT advocating "unlocked" classes - that's not the cool part.
The cool part was that the entire SWG community was awed by this mystery and a great many people were devoted to solving it, or at least were intrigued by it. We talked about it. We theorized. We debated. We had entire websites devoted to various ideas and discussions of the merits of those ideas. Talk about community building! It was great.
But that's still not the coolest part. The coolest part was that the prevailing theory at the time was that to become a Jedi you needed to experience the entire game, because any and all game content could potentially be on a hidden check list of things you needed to do to become a Jedi. Because of that, this was the ONLY mmorpg I have ever played where it didn't matter what kind of gamer you were (casual/power/roleplay/whatever) a large number of people from all playstyles were motivated to drink life to the lees, so to speak, and try to do everything the game had to offer. People were afraid to powergame straight through and ignore the content because all of that content was potentially relevant.
I knew people who made maps of every single thing in a zone and would go and look at each one of them. Not just look too - study, write about, etc. Even the smallest delivery quests were undertaken. Writings on walls and ruins were analyzed. Things spoken by NPCS were scrutinized and quoted.
Having a shared mystery to solve was the most exciting and fascinating thing I have ever done in a mmorpg until ...
.... the utterly craptastic revelation that (1) it was highly suspect, if not outright untrue, that the Jedi code was even in at launch, and (2) the way to become a Jedi was to grind out professions until you ground out the ones designated for your character that unlocked the slot.
:angry:
This led to a period of grinding like no other, which was a nightmare, and sucked the very life out of the game for me at least. I don't have to detail the mess that followed after that because it is well known.
But getting back to the cool part. I hope that HJ has one or more major mysteries that will similarly intrigue and captivate the playerbase. Something important enough that they will talk about it and feel motivated to experience all the game content, not just bits and pieces of it. Something that will inspire communities of people to come together and try to solve the puzzle. I can't tell you how many people I met and got to know just because a group had assembled to talk about their take on the path to Jedi. Even if you knew nothing else about another player, you knew you could talk about that hehe. It was a common bond.
Of course, I would like the Hollywood ending to that story this time and not a rock.
