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Making a quality survival horror MMORPG
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/5910/Why-a-Horror-MMO-Wont-Work.html
I very strongly disagree with the article, and it is clear that the mistake is in assuming that a horror MMO must just be a re-skinned WoW-clone.
No. A survival horror MMORPG must PLAY very differently from the typical theme park gear grind.
1 - You must FEAR death. Whether the penalty is permadeath or simply a day of being unable to play that character, death must be something to FEAR. Without that, there is no horror and survival is meaningless.
2 - monsters must be threats to be avoided or removed, not resources to be 'farmed'. This is where a lot of zombie games fall down. If you are hunting them, it isn't survival horror. If THEY are hunting YOU, then it IS.
3 - The goal is TO SURVIVE. The attacks become more and more numerous and powerful, and eventually, your safe place is overrun. Your ePeen is based on how long you and your community survived.
Feel free to add more suggestions.
Comments
I agree, MMO_D. I think the thought process never extended beyond "Zombies are hot, so is WoW."
I think a true Survival Horror game would be awesome and would definitely have to be developed to a hardcore audience, and that might be the problem.
To truly play a horror MMO I want to have to fear losing my character, not just die/respawn/go back and look my own corpse to get my stuff back.
I want to play the game much like you do Diablo's Hardcore mode - Your character has one shot, don't mess it up.
Make me have to flee from battle and lick my wounds, make me pay for getting in over my head.
Make me create a new character.
If they could do this and have great atmosphere then it would probably be the first MMO that I would play and I'd gladly blow through character after character trying to get better at the game.
I'd also love if you could look at a players profile and it would show interesting stats like:
Longest life
shortest life
Average life
Total toons dead
etc.
i totally agree. WOW should be the furthest thing from a developers mind when making a survival horror mmo.