Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Concept 3: Entertainer, Dancer and Musician Missions & Quests
I really like the idea of some form of Fame. The 'Fame like faction points' concept sounds as if it could be a reasonable starting point, where Fame could be gained through extensive, and progressively prestigous, performance mission accomplishments, whether player or NPC driven, or a combination of the two. I think that some kind of system where invitations to more prestigious gigs can be earned through diligent performance could be content to strive for even beyond Mastery. Finally earning those invitations to dance for Jabba, or at the palace at Theed, or for the Emperor or other SW luminaries after working very hard at my craft would make for some nice content, I think.
The payoff for such Entertainer quests? In the early stages, the kinds of things that have been discussed for standard missions; XP and reasonable pay. For later rewards, I'd personally enjoy the kinds of things that reflect a dedication to performing excellence rather than strict game mechanics. These rewards would have to be visible, tangible 'medals', in a sense, of going to the extra effort to entertain... of value to "true" entertainers, but not worth the effort for those not dedicated to quality entertainment to obtain.
Possible examples:
1) Additional 'prestige' titles based on fame... Diva and Rock Star were suggested. These would denote only an extra effort put forth by those who love to perform, and be of value to those who care about such things.
2) Special badges for successful completion of prestigious gigs, possibly along with some form of congratulatory letter of admiration that could be displayed in the home or guildhall for success in these missions. (Insert character name), The Great and Mighty Jabba wishes to extend his complements on a most invigorating performance... you are truly a credit to your profession..., etc. I know that if I was invited to dance before Jabba (or the Emperor or whatnot) and received a letter of congratulation, it'd be framed and up on the wall for all to see.
3) Unique outfits, instruments, furniture, or other home/cantina/PA hall decor as tokens of appreciation from high-profile admirers.
Poet Dancer is right as well, though, in that there is certainly a measure of fame already in place that simply comes from word of mouth via other players. Entertainers who really entertain are remembered, and talked about. But perhaps this could be worked into the system in some way, if a way could be found that would minimize the possibilites of being exploited for quick Fame gains. Could there be a non-exploitable way of players contributing to that Fame score? I'll just leave that question open.
If the ideas continue to flow, we have to option to keep the good ones and throw out the ones that won't help.
PoetDancer wrote:
Now I know a lot of players have been exploring the possibility of a fame statistic, but tell me, is this really fame? I was a rather prominent dancer on my last server, and I needed no fame statistic to tell me that I was. Will the inclusion of fame as a game mechanic truly reward thoseplayers who are in character, attentive to their patrons, andtruly entertaining to be around? If it doesn't, then you just gave another game mechanics advantage to an unattended playerthat puts no effort in being entertaining to the patrons.
I am pretty sure thatfame cannot ever be included as a game mechanic. I may be wrong, but I simply cannot conceive of a way you can approximate popularity in a coded statistic. Entertainers do become popular and famous already for doing the real work of the entertainer: attentive, witty, and in-character play. If fame is merely a measure of mission completion, then its theoretical that the most famous entertainer on a particular server would be unknown by anyone else on that server. If fame is merely a measure of tallied votes by other players, then you'll see a PA's unattended buffbot be more famous than those who work hard in the game to meet and service players in an attentive way. If there is a significant game mechanics advantage in having high fame, it only magnifies the problems by making players who put no effort into playing having superiority over those entertainers that take great pride in being the most entertaining players they can.
Yes, Fame can be included as a game mechanic. Is it REAL fame..no it isn't. But then experience isn't real either, nor are injuries, wounds, etc. etc. Titles certainly aren't real (You can attain Master Dancer and know next to nothing about the profession). I'm not suggesting that any mechanic should, will, or can replace the real social ties or name recognition that can occur in an MMOG though attentive, kind, and intelligent interaction with other players.
What a fame statistic can offer is a brass ring for entertainers to reach for, a reward that can be of value to them, and an indicator for folks to roleplay off of. Moreover, it will offer a mechanic that allows NPCs to react appropriately to a "famous" character. As it stands, your popular entertainer character is treated exactly the same by all NPCs as any other character would be. For immersion concerns it would be nice for the world to react differently to your character as faction standings cause the world to react differently to various combatant types.
Steps can and should be taken to ensure (as much as is possible) that fame is accrued from actual playing and not afk macroing. In fact it should be tough. Perhaps require attentive reaction to NPC demands for certain tunes or dances. Such a system would not stop folks from advancing in their entertainer professions, xp and skills being attained through the normal means.
I think Fame as a game mechanic can be implemented and can add alot of flavour to the entertainment profession. Can a Fame mechanic represent the character to other player popularity that good roleplay can? No. It can't and it won't. Can it be used to reward people that play entertainers as many of us believe they should be played? I think yes.
PoetDancer wrote:
Now I know a lot of players have been exploring the possibility of a fame statistic, but tell me, is this really fame? I was a rather prominent dancer on my last server, and I needed no fame statistic to tell me that I was. Will the inclusion of fame as a game mechanic truly reward thoseplayers who are in character, attentive to their patrons, andtruly entertaining to be around? If it doesn't, then you just gave another game mechanics advantage to an unattended playerthat puts no effort in being entertaining to the patrons.
I am pretty sure thatfame cannot ever be included as a game mechanic. I may be wrong, but I simply cannot conceive of a way you can approximate popularity in a coded statistic. Entertainers do become popular and famous already for doing the real work of the entertainer: attentive, witty, and in-character play. If fame is merely a measure of mission completion, then its theoretical that the most famous entertainer on a particular server would be unknown by anyone else on that server. If fame is merely a measure of tallied votes by other players, then you'll see a PA's unattended buffbot be more famous than those who work hard in the game to meet and service players in an attentive way. If there is a significant game mechanics advantage in having high fame, it only magnifies the problems by making players who put no effort into playing having superiority over those entertainers that take great pride in being the most entertaining players they can.
Yes, Fame can be included as a game mechanic. Is it REAL fame..no it isn't. But then experience isn't real either, nor are injuries, wounds, etc. etc. Titles certainly aren't real (You can attain Master Dancer and know next to nothing about the profession). I'm not suggesting that any mechanic should, will, or can replace the real social ties or name recognition that can occur in an MMOG though attentive, kind, and intelligent interaction with other players.
What a fame statistic can offer is a brass ring for entertainers to reach for, a reward that can be of value to them, and an indicator for folks to roleplay off of. Moreover, it will offer a mechanic that allows NPCs to react appropriately to a "famous" character. As it stands, your popular entertainer character is treated exactly the same by all NPCs as any other character would be. For immersion concerns it would be nice for the world to react differently to your character as faction standings cause the world to react differently to various combatant types.
Steps can and should be taken to ensure (as much as is possible) that fame is accrued from actual playing and not afk macroing. In fact it should be tough. Perhaps require attentive reaction to NPC demands for certain tunes or dances. Such a system would not stop folks from advancing in their entertainer professions, xp and skills being attained through the normal means.
I think Fame as a game mechanic can be implemented and can add alot of flavour to the entertainment profession. Can a Fame mechanic represent the character to other player popularity that good roleplay can? No. It can't and it won't. Can it be used to reward people that play entertainers as many of us believe they should be played? I think yes.
I am missing Image design quests. Image design is part ofentertainer. Yet there are no ideas for quests mentoined.
Player missions also for image designers would be nice...Letting someone or a playercity add missions if they want an
image designer. I placed some other quest ideas under the correspondent thread of Image designer.
Furthermore I think it would be nice when the new Image design UI from patch 8 would be used for dancers and musicians too.
A standard amount of fee you can agree to once someone starts to listen/watch you. (Very helpful cos afk players would never get
tip and maybe even no healing XP?)
For musicians and dancers:
1. I would like to see a way for NPC's to rate the performance of the player(s). The NPC's could view a player and assign a rating after two minutes of performance on a 1 to 10 scale. Items that would affect would be quality of clothing, variety in flourishes, number of mistakes by performer, timing of hitting the flourish keys and use of light effects. I believe that the NPC should be able to tell if the player is using a macro or not, and use of a macro should lower the rating.
Additionally, this could be stepped up for groups performing together. How well are they in unison? Is it all band flourish, or do they coordinate (something we used to do back in EQ days =)
2. Gig missions would be much more interesting if we were sent to different places then some random hotel or cantina. There is a type of mission on Naboo where you can get a mansion to spawn as the 'lair' for a humaniod group. having places spawn for entertainers doesn't seem too far fetched either.
Also, adding code for doing gig missions as a group with other performers to increase reward would be nice.
3. A huge pleaser for me and likely most entertainers is better venues for performing. The stages in Hotels and Theaters are great, but there is nothing attracing players to them. Abilities to control lighting and have speaker sounds (projection of sounds instead of players clicking on listen) would be great fun to work with.
4. Advertising droids and wardrobe droids.
/throw random idea