Anyone have an idea of when thievery will make it into the game?
- Thread starter PuckInmortali
- Start date
So, the only information given is that we won't see it in beta or at release--gotcha. I was just hoping that there was some sort of estimate on the timeline. Thanks.
Waiting to add thievery was a good call. Game needs more content and a stable population first. I know none really cares about keeping a healthy population of casual players here. But driving away every player and being left with a few thousand hardcore players never really ends well for pvp games. They just suck the life out of the game and then move onto the next pvp game that releases so they can kill that one too
That is an interesting thought. MMORPGs, especially sandbox ones, are all about diversity. To make the whole work, you need different people doing different things at different levels of involvement. You need crafters, merchants, gatherers, builders, diplomats, fighters, and criminals, etc. because that is what makes the experience so immersive--a second world running parallel to our own where you can be whatever you want to be in the context of the game's design. The players make the content, which is a sandbox's greatest strength and, potentially, its greatest weakness--i.e., no players, no content.
Here's the thing though, making this world work with all it's diversity of interconnected play options cannot fully be the responsibility of the players. The devs have to create reasonable safeguards that allow for the most freedom possible, whilst designing the game in such a way where players can reasonably make progress without stifling interference from other players. Players are simply not going to police themselves in such away to make the whole thing work. When too much freedom is given to effect the gameplay of others then eventually you, at worst, have a dead game or, at best, have a very small niche game that may or may not survive for any length of time.
In my mind, there are two types of myopic thinking when it comes to a pvp sandbox. The first is that there should no built in restrictions/consequences for actions, or that this should be entirely left up to the players. This will kill your game on a practical level. People do not have the time, effort, and energy to put into a game that is constantly opposing them. The second is that we need an abundance of safeguards, artificial rules and restrictions to ensure the unhindered gameplay preferences of others. This will destroy the soul of your game. Most who understand what a sandbox is do not want yet another milk toast WoW clone, and a WoW clone is destined for failure. Both of these positions seem illogical and extreme, yet you will find advocates for both loudly preaching their rhetoric.
SV have said that thievery is to be part of the game, and I think that is fantastic. However, I wouldn't want it in the game if it was designed in such a way to bludgeon other players repeatedly without consequence. Equally, I wouldn't want it in the game if it was just a surface level distraction with no depth or impact. There has to be a sweet spot between useless and overpowered, between immersive and abusive, and between risk and reward. I do not envy SV's responsibility to meet this challenge, but meet it they must.