HemlockReaper said:I can see it know.
Error *Unable to login. Character currently in game world.
This or everyone is sitting at the zone in or gate, showing off their fancy gear, mounts, and vanity pets, afk. Meantime people trying to log in, can't too many "bodies" to load. I've seen this in every game I've ever played online. "pack instinct" hehehe
A question that also pops up in my mind :what should all of the characters share? and what not? What would be acceptable as account wide achievements and what should be individual?
Something like a shared bank is very useful,because logging hundreds of times to arrange some items can be very boring (and annoying for the friends that have their chat spammed with your log on /off notifications)
Very much like the idea that another character can arrange/settle something for your other character(s).In guildwars 2 an example is that my elementalist couldn't achieve an insane jump puzzle.But my mesmer(guess enchanter in Pantheon) could create portals so she was able to complete the puzzle my elemetalist was unable to finish.Giving a sense of characters being there for each other /into it together.Which I like very much.
What if one character could prepare something and the changes made will be noticed with your other character if you go to the same location? That would intensify the sense that they are present ,even if you are logged on on another character
Actually reminds me of that story about the dad planting a seed so his children have a nice big tree with fruits when they grow older;this idea of your other characters having their own lives could somehow tie into the progeny system beautifully too I think
Or what about a skill that allows you to summon an alt of your choice in combat for x time,NPC controlled with disposition of choice
As long as it didn't try to emulate your character as being "there" in any way other than an NPC colored name because that would make me feel lonely drowning in a sea of AFK townsmen.
Most likely, different areas of the game would have to be looked at in order to accentuate the existence of a character in the world.
Ofcourse an AI controlled character would need a mark so players know its not the player playing instantly. But I think they could be allowed to keep their name and have a citizen tag instead
Would the existing NPC dispositions work for AI controlled characters you think?
like the idea of dispositions like;
Researcher
Diplomat
Guardian
Gatherer
Entertainer
For each of those new dispositions there could be missions that the players can set for their character ,to perform while offline.Depending on their personality ,they would have a higher/lower success chance based on how well it suites them
Other players playing can assist the AI controlled players on their mission.
When the player of the AI controlled character returns,a list with all the people that helped greatly on the mission will be presented.
And you would be free to send them a special thanks ofcourse
If a character fades away completely when you go offline like in most games,it totally disconnects from the world,which means nobody can possible be interested in your character because it is not there.
But when characters would gain a passive role in the gameworld while not played,other players can get curious and might even contact you with a request to play together sometime
Or with compliments about your sense of fashion <3
Characters totally logged off is the loneliest if you think about it.With a passive role for offline characters , there is still potential that some social bonds are created because of it.
I like the idea. Agree with others above though, there must be some limits to how many offline characters can be in a given area at a time. Maybe such characters can be given an "adventurer in town" disposition and when hailed, would talk about all the adventures they've been in (might be interesting in combination with a achivement system!) :)
