People could script just a single quest, a random encounter on the overland map, a couple of homes or shops or tavern characters or just a single relatively uncomplicated quest, whatever took their fancy if there was a good way of slotting it into a gameworld and knowing that people would end up coming across it.
This system you allude to is a multi-million dollar project. NWN took 5 years for Bioware to develop, bear in mind. And you want something more complex.
It would mean that people could get involved on a minor level and just play around rather than needing to raise themselves to a game designer type level to contribute anything that'll actually get played.
If all you're looking for is a sandbox world I suppose you might find this satisfactory. I'm looking for strong story-based RPGs. Doing content creation that way would be the equivalent of taking a good novel and having the fan community alter and change it at will, expecting the novel to remain of a similar standard. Unlikely. Imagine taking all the NWN modules, the good and the bad, and combining them into one giant...mess.
So you could have a random encounter one person wrote on the way to a dungeon someone else wrote, all within the same world rather than in distinct chunks.
I REALLY don't think you are aware of the enormous technical complexity of such a system. TES mods already have problems with stepping on each other's toes, and that is offline. There is a reason things like Second Life tend to have instanced content.
@ Squeek :
How would you make a crack that would allow you to run Morrowind fully loaded with every mod for it ever written? You couldn’t, because that wouldn't be possible.
You don't need to make a crack for Morrowind that allows you to load every module. You just need to crack Morrowind. Then you can play any module you feel like.
How would it work with your example? Simple, I already explained this, unless your game logic sits on a server it is trivial to crack.
Step 1 : Some pirate with a legit account downloads all available modules at the time.
Step 2 : Crack game client.
Step 3 : Load modules into cracked client.
Step 4 : Play.
Step 5 : Periodically download more updates, distribute. Client is cracked so it runs them without complaint.
The only way to prevent that is if step 4 requires a permanent online connection in order to process game logic. Anything else is crackable in a fairly trivial amount of time. Your user modules are simply data Squeek, if they get downloaded in their entirety to the player's machine then they are easily cracked, shared and played offline by pirates.
Each modification alters the version
The mod version makes no difference. The security for the game resides in a specific module, a software call. Remove it and that cracked software can play mods to the pirates hearts content. You do know pirated copies of Morrowind could play mods right?
The "world" I'm imagining is a gaming experience involving a dynamic game world, developer collaboration via the Internet (not to be confused with development-on-demand) maybe using a Game Master persona, and subscription pricing.
I know what you are imagining, you aren't the first to imagine it.
I'm not talking about a single-player MMO experience where a player logs on to client-side software (that's fun to think about too, but just not my idea). I'm imagining the player logging onto a server from time to time, but only for collaboration and content. Not merely additional content -- alternative content.
Technically speaking, at the core you're describing a DRM restricted file management system. Player content uploaded to an official server, players connect to receive said files, perhaps interact with GMs to decide on what files they'd like. Problem is that the files, once downloaded to a players machine, can be easily distributed since the software doesn't need a net connection to play, simply to fetch files. If it's a once off connection it's little more than DRM like steam with it's updates, and fairly easily circumvented.
You're stuck thinking in terms of single version, Gareth. You're only imagining static game worlds that people can "consume in days, weeks." Throw that concept out, and the door opens to all kinds of clever ways of hosting role-playing games on individual player platforms.
No, I'm really not. This isn't a hard concept you're proposing Squeek, it's simply one that I don't think you fully understand the difficulties and ramifications of. And no, I'm not imagining static worlds. But I know this for fact, no matter how quickly your team of GMs can produce "alternate" content, the players will consume it at a faster rate. It's simple, content takes longer to make than to play.
The way I imagine it, once a player completed the kind of game I'm talking about, he could go through it again playing a completely different type of character and have a completely different kind of experience.
Except your calculations are off. To create "a completely different" type of experience means twice the content. But in each case the player finishes that content in a fraction of the time it takes you to create it. Which means that once players finish the content available, they have to wait for a while before new stuff comes out, then he'd finish it quickly, then he'd wait, then finish, etc etc....you reach a point where the player has "caught up" with the available content and is sitting around bored waiting for more to come. I know you are imagining that player added content would make for "unlimited adventure!!!" (this is the same thing people imagined when they heard about NWN) but it won't, any more than NWN modules have. Why? Because even Bioware's vast community can't produce enough quality content quickly enough.
Coming back around to piracy, any single version a pirate might copy would be no big deal. So what if they play it? It would be static. The difference between it and the dynamic experience available to genuine customers would be like night and day. Pirated copies would function as little more than demos.
No it wouldn't. See above. I don't think you understand how this works, technically. Not trying to insult, I just think you need to consider that you might not understand the implementation details before you accuse people of just being too closed-minded.
Finally, coming around again to modders, it might even be possible to design modular game worlds (one world / different versions) where amateur modders could receive payment for their efforts. I’m imagining them getting spiffed every time their modifications get downloaded. That way folks who made the popular mods could cash in on them.
Nothing wrong with that. But even with paid rewards, the amount of quality content that comes out doesn't match player demand. I do believe some of the published NWN premium modules come from talented community members. Just not enough of them to provide a steady flow.
