Shroud of the Avatar - Update #9, Tracy Hickman

I am not sure what is required then, SPO is basically the mode they envisioned everyone to want to play, because things happen that will effect your world at that point as well.

I'm at a loss as to what you see crippling. You seem to be looking it as still an MMO with some extra features only where there are two sides etc.

I am looking at it as a single player world with the ability to have basically as much interaction as you want. He has said many times even since the start of the project that he wants to bring social back into the game, and not social as in zynga but social as in DnD sitting at a table social.

The major problems with MMO's after Ultima online is they went to the theme park version where everyone rides the same ride. Unfortunately when anyone here's mmo they think that right away.

As an aside I also think SPO was the lowest level they thought of that players would want to play. Thinking, rightly or wrongly, that players would want world wide events effecting their game with updates to different things. Where as if you play single player offline you just aren't going to have the ability to happen, due to not getting the updates etc that being online allows you. Now, that brings in a question will they patch in major events so even the single player games will see some of these events?

I'm at a loss as to what you see crippling. You seem to be looking it as still an MMO with some extra features only where there are two sides etc.

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Some people in the comment section (like the one I quoted) are clearly expecting an MMO experience. Having a large part of the player base opting out of it is a concern for the MMO crowd. I've read some UO fans write that they were withdrawing their pledge because it wasn't MMO enough.

And the single player seems crippled to me because the content will have to fit MMO restrictions. Say you've killed a bandit that ambushes a road. You connect with people that haven't killed him. In a single player game he should rightfully still be dead. But you're likely to see him again because your friend is meant to see him.

To avoid that, countless situations like this one will need to be avoided so that SPO,FPO,OPO can work. And if they are avoided in these, they aren't there in SPOff either. So this cripples SPOff by reducing the number of possible situations that can be used as content. Or, they will have to choose to accept that people that have killed a unique foe will have to see him again.

I honestly don't remember how that worked in UO (limited play, long time ago). Were there respawning enemies? Were players the enemies with a price on their heads? (Note that this option doesn't work either for SPO and FPO)

I am looking at it as a single player world with the ability to have basically as much interaction as you want.

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Except that inevitably some people you interact with will, at a given time and place, need to see things that you don't and vice-versa because they haven't done the same things you have. Unless the content is specifically tailored to avoid those situations (I have trouble imagining how), which would cripple the offline game as stated above (making all sorts of situations off limits to the writers and designers).

I must log off now but will check in again tomorrow. If there is something I'm missing, I'm all for reading it

Charles-cgr said:

And the single player seems crippled to me because the content will have to fit MMO restrictions. Say you've killed a bandit that ambushes a road. You connect with people that haven't killed him. In a single player game he should rightfully still be dead. But you're likely to see him again because your friend is meant to see him.

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I think for the parts where you are meant to see him, that will push people into a single player online, not saying seeing a bandit on a road unless it is a major plotline would do that.

What I think they will do is have some areas which can either be played solo or mp, like large battles etc that will be replayable. These areas will be pushing the joining up with friends, whereas the highly personal areas will not. It is an interesting system that I hope they can pull off.

I could see for instance running into a band of gypsies with a group and some story actions playing out, which probably wouldn't be very different then if you played it single player.