I sometimes wonder about the online multiplayer games which are all the rage these days. So different from Galaga, they are. I would like to see what is going on, but am not interested in learning the complexities of how they are played, interacting the the correct way, etc, etc.
The Divine Interloper is an expensive service offered to rich middle aged guys. On paying the fee, they get a virtual character who can be clumsily but invisibly maneuvered in and around the game arena, watching the various players interact and seeing what it is all about.
Additional fun is derived from being able to interact with the environment and players without your invisible self being affected. Pimpslap them from behind, steal stuff and move it, and so on.
The gamers might get wise and bow out, but by then the Interloper will have gone back to real life.-- bungston, Sep 02 2005 So Basically... God Mode/Invisibilty Hack for all games provided for a hefty price to any and all who just want to "peak in" on a game? Sounds kinda.... like no one would pay for this... Except to screw with their friends... lots of copywright infringements... This could also start a new wave of Internet Abuse Lawsuits.... I don't think I can give this a Bun... but... I re-consider after I see what other people think...-- Ish, Sep 02 2005 This seems similar to using cheats to attain a God-like status in games. It may seem fun for a while, but you have totally bypassed the whole entertainment of the game, which is learning and working towards a goal.
My motto is never read any sort of manual and choose the hardest settings to begin with.-- pooduck, Sep 02 2005 An early book by Piers Anthony featured a galaxy-wide role-playing game that made money, for itself and its players, by selling viewing to non-players.
Seems to me that allowing non-player spectators is a logical addition to on-line RPGs. Allowing them to invisibly interfere with the action would disrupt the game, though, unless it had poltergesists and ghosts as a regular feature.
So, anyway, croissant, if a rather lonely one.-- DrCurry, Sep 02 2005 Don't charge so much, but don't let the interloper interfere with actual players in a way that would seem unfair (stealing hard to come by stuff, for example) but allow some merely inconvenient interaction (knocking players over, for example).-- oxen crossing, Sep 02 2005 From the "get what you pay for" department: How does your "imp" know when it was outbid for control by its elf?-- reensure, Sep 04 2005 You would have to give the game developers some incentive to allow this. I'm not so sure that the gamers would appreciate it.-- thebigo195, Sep 05 2005 More to the point, how does your "gimp" know when it was outbid for control by its gelf?-- gnomethang, Sep 05 2005 Imbedded MMORPGist: I'm not middle aged but I'm also not MMORPG material. City of Heroes was my only success. As you implied, life inevitably took over. Then I tried Project Entropia, but i hate money and it hates me. Now the point. What you really need here is a timeshare character for the overactive adult. The character can be temporarily retro fitted to allow the user a glimpse into the operation of the game from the beginning and then jumped forward to allow the user a glimpse of how mundane and repetitive these games become after level 30. Basically all you need is a "slider" option for the character level desired. I'm sure the excitement will wear off after 20 wasted hours and the relative hours of wasted income opportunities. I'd pay more just to see what it was about so I could form an opinion about it It'd be just like being an "imbedded" journalist minus the trauma.-- Ponies for Parties, Dec 21 2005 random, halfbakery