there must be games that are fun for thousands of people to play. but we have never heard of them. they havent been invented because you couldnt get thousands of people together just to play a game before the internet allowed. the closest we had was war, which is certainly not fun for everyone.
we have had mushs, etc for quite awhile, and quake servers are certainly neat, but im thinking of teams of thousands vs other teams of thousands playing cerebral games, not shooting. maybe worldwide Risk. the game could be built into a screensaver which shows the status of the game whenever you reapproach your idling machine.
a first, and very poor, example of a game- horserace. horses move across the screen as they are "pushed" by thousands of users keypresses... or correct answers... (or candybars sold?)... or dollars raised... this "game" would not be very engaging for long, but far far better games could be invented by those who invent games, or you.
worldwide boys vs girls, ibm vs hp, belgium vs singapore.
this is possible under existing technology.-- gnormal, Apr 04 2001 Interview with a MMOG (MPOG) designer http://www.gamasutr...971219/stern_01.htmFrom the gamasutra, a news site for game professionals. [Aristotle, Apr 04 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] A reference for absterge http://www.halfbake...w.sellyourideas.comMy annotations for this thread allude to as much as I'm able to say on this forum. [Aristotle, Apr 04 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] It sounds like you are not familiar with Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) which in turn have often been inspired by computer adventure games ( a genere often incorrectly called role-playing) and play-by-mail role-playing and strategy games.
MMOGs are not just Ultima Online and its competitors (whose popularity has caused virtual homes, possessions and characters to be sold on ebay) but also huge tactical space games and the like. The tactical games tend to be more like Ciilization II than Risk but this is what tactical players expect nowdays.-- Aristotle, Apr 04 2001 I think what gnormal is getting at here, Aristotle, is more classic style games, as opposed to the MMO(RP)G; they tend to be immersive, complicated, and rife with p0w3rG4m3rZ. I think the idea here is more like carnival games on a grand scale.-- absterge, Apr 04 2001 He did say "maybe worldwide Risk".
This is still probably baked. Old adventure MMOGs are generally abandoned by powergamers, who rapidly "solve" the game and move on, leaving the more peaceful types to role-play and "bake bread".-- Aristotle, Apr 04 2001 i thought that what set my blurry vision apart from MMOGs was having teams. i didnt realize the other important aspect until absterge mentioned. we dont have any that are not immersive or complicated. i guess i want MMOGs for casual gamers. something no more immersive than risk or you-dont-know-jack. so i can logon, help my team with a few triple-word-scores, and log out.
more immersive than carnival games would be good. we do have plenty of these sites for casual gamer- iwin, iwon, flipside, battlemail, etc. but these games are not fun (punch the monkey!). and are usually one-on-one or one-on-monkey. they just serve to occupy whoever they might long enough to send them one more banner ad.
(considering how unfun these games are, it is very interesting to me that, according to the free top 50 report from PC Data Online (apparently no longer available since bought by netscore) EVERY site that wasnt a portal, search engine or homepage homestead, was a casual gaming site! so i reckon that casual gaming has been proven sticky enough to support ad driven businesses. there must be better, more engaging (but take it easy on the immersion) games for vl teams. something about as complicated as yahoo.)-- gnormal, Apr 04 2001 (Aristotle, that last comment of your intrigues me... praytell, in what other contexts might you use such a phrase? ;) )-- absterge, Apr 04 2001 make them draw,and help draw each others drawings,in real time-- technobadger, Apr 04 2001 This is getting too close to my work but the phrase to "bake bread" is a rallying call for people who want more mundane existance (and therefore presumably depth) in their fantasy MMOG communities. Witness the smithing competition that will be carried out in all 21 shards of Ultima Online soon as an example.-- Aristotle, Apr 04 2001 This might do well as a war game, I think. Recreate famous battles with everyone from the marshals to the Cossacks' camp-followers controlled by a player. Plenty of variety in the roles and nice and short, with lots of lovely violence. Some players would get tactical maps of various scales, others would run around with first-person-shooter interfaces.-- Monkfish, Apr 06 2001 Aristotle, I'd be happy to TIOL at this point, but your profile has no email addy... may I inquire for whom you work? (certainly not a gaggle of lupines??)-- absterge, Apr 06 2001 random, halfbakery