[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs

[cruise]

Thus spake Michael Chui...
> I see two paths for this. One is the "truly single-player" approach. In
> this case, you'd be doing what Spore is doing: making stuff, uploading
> it to a server for inclusion into others' games and that'd be the end of
> your contribution.

I see this only as an automation of the mapping/modding scene that 
already exists, really; that has been happening for a long time.

> The other is a kind of PBEM/Hotseat Civilization-type of approach,
> wherein there are periodic updates of changes. For instance, consider a
> game of Battlefield played across a couple dozen sessions of
> Counterstrike, each session involving different groups of related and
> allied persons. You'd have specific missions: essentially, "Capture this
> point." and the outcome would be saved and the next group to play would
> have to deal with it thusly.

This I do like - the recent discussions on griefing and socialisation 
generally ended with calls to "instance" or cluster similar playstyles 
together.

This seems an excellent way to do that - each server or instance can 
register with a central server, and the results of each round, raid or 
mission can be collated.

In fact, it seems an excellent way of combining multiple different 
gaming genres - strategy and FPS are the obvious mixes, but even 
something like adventure games could be included with a bit of thought.