There are ton of Massively Multiplayer Online Games out there, but they all seem to be roughly the same thing. Third person view of your character running around and slowly leveling up. What I propose is a game that is essentially many different games depending on what you like to do. For example, in a science fiction world, (probably the best choice for this) If you play as a soldier, the game changes to a first person Halo-style shooter, with you playing alongside and against other players. Veterans however, stay off the battlefield and instead direct lower level troops like a real time strategy game. Or an engineer onboard a spaceship might have to play puzzle games to fix machinery that has been damaged in combat. (see link for example) Other occupations may resemble other games, for instance, a thief can essentially play the game like Grand Theft Auto, courier jobs play like a racing game, Assassins work like Splinter Cell and other stealth games, etc. This would provide a lot of varied gameplay. Also, military campaigns would force teamwork from a vast amount of players that won't all know each other, like in the real army. This would also make battles much more difficult to predict. The enemy force may have twice as many troops as you, but if your soldiers are sufficiently 1337, they could certainly prevail against bad players. Extra incentive to perform well come if rank advancements are decided by higher level peers instead of the computer. I haven't done much research into the vast amount of MMORPGs out there, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any that cover this broad a spectrum, and let the game evolve with you.
-- Lord Kyler, Sep 10 2009

Puzzle game http://www.akidsmat...es/ctreepuzzle.html
Possible puzzle type that could be played to "repair damage" [Lord Kyler, Sep 10 2009]

Natural Selection http://en.wikipedia...ection_(video_game)
Combination of FPS and RTS game types in an addictive format of Marines vs Aliens. [toodles, Sep 11 2009]

This sounds awesome. But how to prevent troops from "going rogue" and acting on their own whims rather than their commander's?

Also, it would be hilarious to have prepubescent 10-year old "veterans" ordering around armies of middle-aged adult "soldiers".
-- DrWorm, Sep 10 2009


"EVE" kind of does this as well (or did, from memory) - but, as [21] points out, it's pretty dull (some people I think referred to it as a "spreadsheet-em-up" - but dull is my opinion of all MMORPGs - yes, they can also be cruelly addictive, but they are almost always dull, dull, dull - oh, and completely meaningless. Don't forget the meaningless part.
-- zen_tom, Sep 10 2009


Troops acting on their own will would make it really a unique game. How many strategy games are there where your troops won't go into a situation of certain death? Players who go rogue or betray you however, might be handled with court martialing, maybe resulting in a loss of XP and money, or even execution of their character. I know of at least one game where players in a Roman setting were virtually crucified for camping near spawn points and killing new players.
-- Lord Kyler, Sep 10 2009


Nice, varied gameplay is almost always lacking in the grind-happy MMO's of today (not that I would know, I get bored before the second level...) [+]
-- xxobot, Feb 25 2010


Would all of the different "occupations" need to have real-time interactions? Or could you have some folks playing something like Farmville or GTA fairly autonomously to provide food/cash/health to a team? A supply line, essentially. +, btw.
-- ryokan, Feb 26 2010



random, halfbakery