Physical experience vs Avatar experience
After my short blip on STO Zone I got to thinking about the actual game play of star trek online. This is something I don't usually think about. I probably should because a game without good game play really isn't a game at all, just a fancy model viewer. But I still want to go a head and stick with the simulator idea. So I got to thinking, how would you make good game play in a star trek simulator. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning struck my mind. What if we were to make it so that you don't actually have in game experience points. The more and more you spend with a subject the better and better you'll get physically. So you would be building physical experience instead of game experience. Like with a first person shooter, in those kind of games you have to actually learn how to play the game over time. And the longer you play the better you can get physically. So one that has been playing the game for a year could easily Tromp all over someone whose only been playing the game for a week. Let's look at the pros and cons to both of these different types of game play.
Physical experience; with physical experience one who was extremely interested in engineering for instance would have to go to the academy and learn how to put together and properly take apart warp cores and how ships run, all that good stuff. Once they've graduated the academy and learned all they need to know in order to survive in the game, they will go out and learn more from physical experience in their field. The longer and longer they spend doing their job the faster and faster they'll get physically. And the more experience you get the more eligible you would be two promotions. One of the pros to this type of game play will be that anybody who's ever had experience in a certain field but is not currently working in that department will still be able to run things even though they don't necessarily have the right experience points. And I think this way anybody and everybody on board a ship will have the opportunity to be able to gain what ever experience they want to and not have to worry about looking at what experience points they have. They just automatically know it, just like in the real world (Oh I said it the real world.) In the academy everyone would be trained to be able to fly the shuttle craft or possibly even use the helm of a starship. They would also be trained in all of the fields of space science, and physics. They would also be trained in the federation's (or whatever faction there playing,) Fighting styles including how to use a phase properly. You know all of the required subjects of the academy. Then when there out in the field and they actually us those required subjects. They'll physically make those required subjects stronger. This method of play mixed with random red shirts version are star trek online and the seamless universe I was talking about would make one heck of a game.
Now on to the cons of physical experience; with physical experience there would be a lot of physical learning. So there will possibly be a lot of tutorials at the beginning of the game. Maybe even a test to get out of the academy. There would also be a lot of physical computer work. And if you're an engineer a lot of pulling wires and crawling through Jeffry's tubes. But I think for a really good game developer who knows what they're doing they could make this part of the game play exciting and engaging to the player. Possibly not crowd them with too much techno babble. Maybe make it so that the engineering and science stations are interesting and possibly easier to do then other jobs. But of course the higher rank you became the harder they would become.
Avatar experience points; with experience points the more and more you do something more points to rack up and when you gain a certain amount of points you have the ability to level up. Therefore making a character more experienced. This makes it so that you don't have too actually remember all that much, Except how to actually play the game of course. Then it becomes more, what am I going to do today to make my character progress the way I want him to. This is good for actual role playing as you're just focusing on the character itself or himself or herself. This is an OK game play, I would accept it, but when it comes to actual immersion into the star trek universe it doesn't work for me. I think it would be really cool to actually be able to do what my characters doing on that computer screen. Possibly the only thing you could do physically with this type of game play is piloting the ship's and maybe shooting your phaser.
Of course the physical experience part of it would make any player into a Trekkie if they stayed with it long enough. But I think the more and more we train our young minds in the way of science, engineering, medical, and of course space. Will be more ready for what is to come. And I believe this is possibly the best way to do that. An interesting and engaging MMO that teaches simple and easy to remember science topics, and yet still making it Fun
Now if you managed to make it all the way through this post you should be granted an award. But that was my ideas for game play in STO.
This is Bin Hawkins out. =A=
