The *Best* (hypothetical) Computer Game Ever

[flexy]

I had an idea which (IMO) would make "the best computer game ever".

This game would be THE mother of all "open world games", think about GTA and similar to get halfway an idea what I have in mind.

THERE ARE NO PRE-SET RULES OR A PLOT whatsoever in this game.

The game is an open world game which could be any setting, from fantasy to "real life", whatever. It could be a single-player game but of course it can also be MP/MMORPG.

What the game DOES have is an economy and thus limitless ways to "make money", however one of course is not "required" to make money, it's entirely optional.

So are any "careers" someone chooses in the game. For example, someone could play (log-in) and play a homeless bum. Another one plays a police offer. Another one chooses "a normal job", like in a warehouse. Another player is a criminal who steals money, robs banks or people etc.

Let's give an example, you will realize it's really like a "real life" simulation but THIS is what gives the game its flexibility and unlimited ways to play it.

You log-into the virtual world. Obviously, you want a place to stay. If you don't have money you need to sleep on a bench in the park being a bum. If you rent a apartment, hotel....etc... obviously requires money.

You cannot rent a home without a job, this is where you choose your income(criminal, cop, normal job, crafting and trading...etc.) since every month your landlord wants rent

If you want to buy a luxury mansion...obviously you need to play and "make money" for a long time or choose to become a drug lord or maybe a pop star.

The point is that while there are no rules in global sense, no plot etc. there are micro-rules, such as the economy (things all have a value)....or the fundamental fact that all your actions have consequences.

For example, if you just walk around and steal/rob people you won't do too well with the cops and will be wanted and risk going to jail. (This could mean a penalty where your char cannot play for whatever time in "real time"...up to and including perma-ban or...even "death-penalty", eg. your char gets deleted. Just as an example.

So basically, think about a mix of GTA/Simcity etc. but MUCH, MUCH more involved and with more options and without any plot.

Player A just logs in because he is a farmer, so he waters/checks his vegatebles etc.
Player B logs in and he joins a gang
Player C plays a cop
Player D offers some service (maybe he is a construction guy and can build virtual homes, or he sells food etc...or 1000 other things)
etc.. infinity

Of course, you cannot simply 'choose' to play a cop, there can be requirements that certain professions need to be learned first which need to be acquired by playing and training/learning skills. If you play and already stole and robbed, obviously you cannot become a cop etc. if you were booked in the past.

If you don't have a million saved up you obviously cannot buy a luxury mansion up the hill.

Point being that real life is simulated as close as possible and that each player can do what they want. Skills and experience come "naturally" depending how and how long you play.

 

[Barfo]

It's called real life, the graphics are awesome but most NPCs are assholes.

 

[Snock514]

It's called real life, the graphics are awesome but most NPCs are assholes.

the gameplay needs to be reworked

as well as;

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Hypothetically, or in this case, assuming we had technology that we don't, a Star Wars MMOFPS that has hyperspace and capital ships and everything. AT-ATs stepping on you, the whole works. Me piloted my Imperial Star Destroyer into a combat zone, 200 pilots getting out in their TIE and TIE Bombers, etc.

 

[shortylickens]

A REALLY good star wars 4X.

 

[T9D]

In that game I'd like to sit in a room and play a game to unwind

 

[mango123]

<I believe this link breaks TOS for the game.>
-Admin DrPizza

yup thats pretty much the game you just described. maybe not THE ULTIMATE game, but you can do all the things you listed.

 

[Udgnim]

Eve Online until people play it and the majority find out that its approach is too niche for their tastes and then they go back to WoW

 

[Fardringle]

It's called real life, the graphics are awesome but most NPCs are assholes.

Yes, but some of the female character models are absolutely fantastic!

 

[AlexAL]

is that second life in a gta setting? lol

 

[Andrew111]

It wouldn't be a real life simulation because who is going to play a game to pick a boring, shitty job like people do in real life...everyone will be robbers or cops....so it would be called cops and robbers.

 

[videogames101]

This already exists.

Eve Online

"Player A just logs in because he is a farmer, so he waters/checks his vegatebles etc.
Player B logs in and he joins a gang
Player C plays a cop
Player D offers some service (maybe he is a construction guy and can build virtual homes, or he sells food etc...or 1000 other things)
etc.. infinity"

happens every time you log in

 

[Via]

Best hypothetical PC game ever (imo):

A Star Trek game that let's you helm the Enterprise and head into the unknown.

There would be an overarching plot that would potentially tie story lines together, but it's scope would be so massive that it might take years to see the end.

Encounters would consist of thousands of pre-fabricated incidents strewn about the galaxy, as well as unlimited randomly generated ones.


You're Kirk.

On a typical encounter you might:

1) play a squad based mission with companions of your choice and plenty of red shirts.

2) fight a space battle Homeworld style

3) play an extended real-time strategy mission to save a friendly planet from being taken over by evil forces

4) handle a complicated diplomatic mission

5) help a lesser species establish an economy

6) cozy up to a hot alien to steal those secret plans

7) etc etc etc - just do something weird

Which aliens you befriend and which ones you fight would have a major impact on the overall game (and plot). Envision dozens of races with varying political and military motives.

You'd pick up crew members, tech, materials and lore along the way that you could use in a thousand different ways. You could even be "evil" Kirk, enslaving societies for fun, but there would be hell to pay when the Federation catches wind of it.

The Enterprise itself would be fully rendered and explorable, and you could play a great game simply wandering it's corridors and meeting people. There would be plenty of intrigue and quests to solve. If you wanted a self-contained gaming experience you'd never have to leave the ship.

And, of course - if you wanted to command the Enterprise for real the game would turn into a space flight sim, requiring you to switch between characters on the fly to control the ship.

That's the end of the rainbow for me.

 

[Zorander]

snip

reads like Real Life to me.

You realize a lot of people turn to games and other forms of entertainment to escape from exactly this?

Edit: Reminds me of this...

 

[ImpulsE69]

reads like Real Life to me.

You realize a lot of people turn to games and other forms of entertainment to escape from exactly this?

Edit: Reminds me of this...

I played this game for years, but there were WAYY too many trolls and hackers.

 

[Agent11]

I have always wanted a space strategy simulation fps mmo, with Newtonian physics and hard sci fi setting. The devs would control the governments of the various species home worlds and players could choose to be a civilian or military.

Civilians would primarily be miners/crafters/adventurers/rogues while military would be Admirals/Captains/pilots/infantry, imagine boarding an enemy player capital ship to bring back to the scientists to decode for faction research bonuses... Or just because you are a pirate, and you need a new ship.

The neat thing would be a system where the devs would be able to influence the in game economy and story arc/events from in game being in control of main faction government and issue orders that would ripple through chains of command in the player hierarchy. Players could create their own colonies, consortiums and factions and effect events in real time.

I'm a big fan of procedural created random quests as well, but it should always be set up so that player interactions are potentially much more profitable than interactions with npc's.

 

[Ancalagon44]

For me, that would not be the ultimate game, although I'm generally not a fan of open world games. Being able to do anything you want to is all well and good, but that doesnt make for an enjoyable game for me. I would probably run around doing random stupid things for a while and then get bored.

 

[Stringjam]

That sounds horrible.

I would literally have to be paid to get in that kind of rat race.


Oh wait....

 

[Geosurface]

I think a game which would be a lot of fun would be a Scribblenauts type "create anything" game but done like GTA - 3D, realistic graphics, and everything you can summon looking realistic/behaving realistically. I know that this would be a lot more work than with scribblenauts, but a lot of the GTA games etc already have so many real world items in them it isn't that far of a stretch.

 

[darkewaffle]

Are you sure you don't mean worst game? The whole sandbox/'make your own fun' genre does nothing for me. I don't want a game to just recreate the same stuff that goes on in real life; if I wanted to sleep on a bench then, hell, I can actually go do that if I so choose.

I think the best games are the ones that pull you out of your world and into an engaging new one. Or the ones that simply have particularly enjoyable gameplay. That's really all I need.

 

[flexy]

It wouldn't be a real life simulation because who is going to play a game to pick a boring, shitty job like people do in real life...everyone will be robbers or cops....so it would be called cops and robbers.

Wrong Think back...WoW...people spent hours/day/months farming some *. I remember people logging in and waiting hours/day just for some dragon to spawn.
Other people..spent HOURS fishing and some other person does nothing else than training some skill for a week...etc..etc..

"Boring" is in the eye of the beholder...it's the flexibility that you CAN do what you can do.

The "cops and robbers" was only an example what COULD be done in the game..in the same way as I am not obliged to be a "cop or robber" in real life

 

[flexy]

Are you sure you don't mean worst game? The whole sandbox/'make your own fun' genre does nothing for me. I don't want a game to just recreate the same stuff that goes on in real life; if I wanted to sleep on a bench then, hell, I can actually go do that if I so choose.

I think the best games are the ones that pull you out of your world and into an engaging new one. Or the ones that simply have particularly enjoyable gameplay. That's really all I need.

You forget that the "gameplay" would come by itself from what's happening in the game. You do not need a "plot" to make it a game.

Here is one example: The game would allow people to join a gang. People would join a virtual gang since it would prove beneficial in case they choose to be criminals. (Eg. people can protect each other).

Now...chances are that other people at some point are getting sick of those people stealing other player's money/harming players etc... so the other people will engage into fights with the gang at some point.

The "plot" therefore would come automatically, as a result of the players actions and abilities, but NOT AS A RESULT OF A SCRIPT hard-coded in the game.

The game could also very well be set in a fantasy setting (or SciFi setting) for that matter where dungeons etc. are added.

You say "You don't want to sleep on a bench and be a bum"...certainly. The point is.. YOU CAN NOT IN ANY EXISTING GAME, you don't even have the option. The "sleeping on a bench" is only an example. Of course you don't "have to" or actually "should" sleep on a bench. But if you don't have money for your home, how would you be able to afford it?

If you don't "want to" sleep on a bench, you will have limitless other options in the game...you could go..in a casino..."get a job"...do illegal things...or even become a virtual prostitute or whatever else. (Or you could find an abandoned home or build one for yourself...assuming you do not have the virtual currency to actually purchase a home)

The fact that you said you will not like the game because you would not like to sleep on a bench means you didn't understand at all what that game would actually be about.

Any other game forces you into a role from the beginning or during playing, with the difference that in the "open world" game you can do the same, although by your own choice and NOT from a script which will not leave you any other choice.

Only very few games today kind of give the ability to be *somewhat* flexible, although in extremely limited ways.

Example: In Farcry 3 where you could choose to skip the story and just spend your time hunting....or in WoW where you log-in to farm/craft/PvP etc. depending what you like to do.

 

[CPA]

I f'in hate sandbox games.

Look, I'm an accountant by trade, so that means I don't have much of an imagination. I'm a black and white kind of guy and like to experience a plot with pre-set decision trees with pre-set consequences of my limited decisions. Don't ask me to "free my mind" and do whatever I want. Because if I'm given that option, I'll just sit there like a lump on a log.

 

[Stringjam]

I f'in hate sandbox games.

Look, I'm an accountant by trade, so that means I don't have much of an imagination. I'm a black and white kind of guy and like to experience a plot with pre-set decision trees with pre-set consequences of my limited decisions. Don't ask me to "free my mind" and do whatever I want. Because if I'm given that option, I'll just sit there like a lump on a log.

I take it you're a CPA by your username?

My wife is working on that right now.....man those tests are hard as hell!! I'm working on my CCNA right now (Cisco networking) and it seems like child's play compared to what she has to trudge through.

 

[CPA]

I take it you're a CPA by your username?

My wife is working on that right now.....man those tests are hard as hell!! I'm working on my CCNA right now (Cisco networking) and it seems like child's play compared to what she has to trudge through.

Yes I am. Tell her don't be discouraged if she doesn't pass all four parts in the first setting. Most states only want a 15% passing rate each year.