Games like counterstrike, payday, etc... could do well to have more civilians caught in the crossfire.

Often when players are killed or if they spectate, they have to wait for the next respawn and just ghost around.

Well why not allow the civilians to be somewhat controllable by spectators. To prevent abuse of NPC character on gameplay, these civvies will have "fear meters". This "fear meter" basically dictates how controllable they are, if they are too panicky then they will not accept any commands from spectators and only do normal NPC stuff. Different NPC civilians will have different levels of 'braveness'.

How does this enhance games like say... payday? Well firstly it would allow spectators to 'metagame' by trying to keep their civvy alive, and also for the players, it would make civilians more unpredictable, and more liable to commit stupid acts like "being an hero" and pressing the alarm button.
-- mofosyne, Aug 13 2013

You could do a MMO version of the "how many five year olds can you beat in a fight" question: the 5yos are smaller and less resilient than the (armed) main character but would likely develop techniques for attacking the main character.
-- calum, Aug 13 2013


Hmm... death by massive midget attack.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 13 2013


Bun chiefly for calum's marginally related comment. In fact such a game would be a fine strategy game - with options of independent control of individual kindergardeners and also directable AIs who would follow a routine (eg: throw rocks from this alley, run if he approaches).

I wonder how interested gamy gamers would be in playing a child or an elderly noncombatant. If they liked being devoid of guns and knives wouldn't they be playing Myst or something?
-- bungston, Aug 13 2013


[+] This would be an excellent idea in any MMORPG if you didn't feel like playing your regular character or just wanted to mess with somebody a bit by introducing an opponent or helper with a bit more smarts than an AI.
-- FlyingToaster, Aug 13 2013


this has been contemplated both in fiction and in actual games.
-- theircompetitor, Aug 14 2013


I realise that my instant tangent was not particularly mannerly of me, so sorry about that. In terms of the idea, I think I like it: people play games in different ways - in fact, I was discussing this very thing last night, perhaps inspired by this idea. I think that, as FlyingToaster says, this option would be popular with people who are OK with the idea of popping off a few shots, respawning somewhere else and popping off a few other shots. It might also appeal to griefers but griefers can ruin anything.
-- calum, Aug 14 2013


Civilian should be a rank for players with low scores, who have an opportunity to get back into the game by controlling the larger number of civilians, despite their automoatic flocking tendency, to get kills.
-- rcarty, Aug 14 2013



random, halfbakery