EDarkness said:
There's no way that can happen. Otherwise you'd have someone hogging all the glory. Those who can play more than everyone else will be taking away the story from who don't. There is just no way a system like that can happen. You being the hero in your own reality is the way it should be. You can move at your own pace (with a group or not) and still get to see everything along the way. MUDs used to do what you're talking about and it just doesn't work.
Saying "it won't work" is not a valid excuse for not doing it. It could totally work. It's just that it wouldn't be very popular. It'd be one of those niche things.
EVE does it. EVE is perfectly successful, and I bet it will remain successful even longer than WoW. Not with the same abso-fucking-lutely insane numbers, of course.
Depends on the group. The same group of friends I play with pretty much restart things in the same world. Everyone understands that some things aren't permanent and we've played through modules (Slave Pits, anyone?) with different characters starting at the original place.
Right! But like I said, it's not really a valid comparison to MMOs. I don't think you can possibly argue that it is. O: D&D is a very controlled experience, even taking the players' free will into account.
I don't agree with this idea that MMOs MUST cater to groups. In real life we can get by without having to deal with people. I don't see why we have to do so in a game world. It's a huge pain. If you want to group, that's fine, but if you don't want to, that's also fine. The real evolution of the MMO in my mind is when you can pick your pace, be the hero of your own story, and not be forced to group in order to enjoy the game. Sometimes people just want a solo game where the world evolves around you. No reason why MMOs can't do that.
Do not misunderstand me! I'm not saying there should be no solo content. I'm saying there should be no
single-player content. I know, the differences aren't great in number, but I think you know what I mean when I say that, right? D:
There's no reason the world can't evolve in ways that aren't things like
phasing. Permanence is good. The illusion of permanence is bad. That's all I'm trying to get across.
Phasing is simply the wrong way to go about this sort of thing, in my opinion.
EDIT: I mean, just to reiterate, I am a huge proponent of soloing. Many times have I logged into an MMO and just wanted to play for an hour or so without dealing with other people, and it's great. The people are there if I want them. That's one of those things that makes MMOs so much fun for me. It's just... yeah.