Scout Archive

Thanks. I wasn't sure how well the idea would be received. I've been talking it over for some time now with a buddy of mine at that's what we had come up with to this point.

I just think that the developers have created real content issues by freezing time with SWG. Unless they plan on following the movies, there isn't a whole lot they can do to "shake things up."

While I like the idea, I thik it will be plauged with people making up stupid quests or tons of people complaing about the quests, getting mad at the guy who made the quest etc.

In a way this is simialr to teh player created bounties discussion going on in the BH forum.

Yeah, it's a great idea - but if they ever get player missions going that would pretty much shoot this profession in the head. Or are player missions definitely nixed now?

Those are definately valid concerns. However, stupid quests are in the eye of the beholder. Each quest could be given a description, by the creator, that explains a bit about the quest. There could also be selectable flags for things like: Roleplay, Funny, Continuity, Dramatic, etc. I also believe that a player based rating system will help weed these out.

As far as holding the quest creator accountable, I would say that the creator could chose to remain anonymous. This way, I could be a Scout/Story-teller, but no one besides the developers would know that I had created any quests. If one of my quests did when some sort of monthly contest, I suppose it could be up to the player to acknowledge it.

If a particular quest is really bad, the Story-Teller would always have the option of deleting it and creating new ones.

Player bounties have the issue of forced PvP. I would suggest that no PvP elements be added to the Story-Teller capabilities.

I also believe that, like the Image Designer, the Story-Teller class wouldn't appeal to the masses. It's a difficult thing to put together an effective story, and most people aren't up to the challenge. Also, a Story-Teller won't add anything to combat and wouldn't be any kindsupport class. This also distinguishes it from the concept of Player Bounties.

WatchingOne,

WatchingOne,

I don't believe I know what the player missions are. If there are plans for implementing them, then I say wonderful. This is basically just a different twist on that very concept. I am also being realistic about the chances of this coming to pass. However, if a developer just happens to read it and a piece of it sparks his/her imagination, then I have succeeded.

LOL! Sorry for the stutter. Not sure what the heck happened there. If some kind individual with some admin rights wouldn't mind deleting the extra posts (and this one) I'd be much obliged.

Way back in Beta there were plans to allow players to do something along these lines and set up their own missions to be submitted to mission terminals. For example, I'm an artisan with a wind farm surrounded by red nasties. Set up a destroy mission with the waypoints and a cash reward then sit back and watch the swarming masses complete my task for me. Definitely not knocking your idea - and perhaps it could work inside the guidelines of the player mission guidelines, if they ever get em running...

This post doesn't really have anything to do with being a Scout, but I thought I'd bounce an idea off of you logical thinkers before I went anywhere else with it.

One of the first things people complain about in SWG is lack of content. Now, must of us scout types don't concern ourselves with content made for us by developers, because our content is in the environment. Still, there is something to be said for story-telling and general questing within the confines of the given universe. In my mind, the problem with deveoper content is that it usually falls short when distributed to the community because of the vast number of variables that exist whenyou deal with large numbers of players. Therefore, I suggest that the developers turn some of the responsibility over to the players themselves using in-game mechanics.

Now this is kind of a crazy idea, but I am basically borrowing it from the Neverwinter Nights community. The idea is to simply give a portion of the community the power to build dynamic quest situations.

Of course, the first question is how. I'm going to propose that it becomes a new skill tree. Lets call the class the Story-teller, for lack of a better title. Basically, a story teller would be able to put together pieces of a quest; including things like dialogue, NPC locations, planets visited, waypoints needed, rewards, creatures, lairs, etc.

To control the power, and potential exploitability, of the class, the skill tree would have to be constructed so that a Story-teller only had access to certain "scripting" components as they progress through the class. For example, one branch could deal with the number of steps involved in the quest. So, a Story-Teller with level I Scripting could only have you perform a simple delivery or destroy mission. While a master Story-Teller could put together an epic even with multiple levels and possibly branching storylines (talk about yer pipe dreams, hehe).

Another control would need to be placed on the class so that players completing the quest didn't get free stuff from the system. Every thing placed into the quest objectives would have to be gathered, or harvested, by the Story-Teller. This could provide a side benefit to junk collected off of NPCs. Also, a Story-Teller shouldn't just be able to place 4 Rancors some where. They should have to have a Creature Handler tame a beast and sell it to them to use it.

The Player Created Quests would also have to have some system restrictions placed on them. For one thing, it should be a fairly difficult thing for a Story-Teller to put together a quest. It should take some real time (like the 5 or so days it takes to grow a pet to adulthood) to build it. Also, any single Story-Teller should only be able to have so many active quests at a time.

To reward the Story-Teller, there should be some kind of in-game recognition for the best quests made. When a player takes a Story-Teller crafted quest, he/she should be able to vote on the over-all quality of the quest. This also means that Quests aren't destroyed after completion (even though a story-teller may need to "restock" the quest before it can be used again). Then, once a month, SOE choses a winner for best Quest and publishes the quest online. Some other rewards would include /tips from the participating players, a possible entry fee for each quest, or maybe even special clothes (robes and such) for the completion of so many quests.

I believe that the mechanics for this system are already supported by the current engine. It allows for dynamic quest content, waypoint placement and encounters. I also understand that SOE can claim that database storage would become a problem, but I say it doesn't have to be. Each player that creates a quest would simply submit the quest elements to the server, at which point it would store the quest information in the quest portion of the database. The player would then only need to store a reference to that quest in their own information.

Also, I understand that this type of system could be abused. Although, my response to that is that this system is prone to the same kind of abuse that the chat system is. Profanity can currently be filtered. Yet, there is no real control over what someone says. Also, if every element of a quest comes from the story-teller and the immediate environment, then nothing new is being added to world, so people won't be able to use it as a money making exploit. Finally, with a rating system per quest, people can quickly sort for favorites and complete them.

Anyway, I know this won't resolve all of the content issues, but I believe it would add immeasurable content to the galaxies. After watching the Neverwinter Nights community, it's amazing what people can do when given the tools. Besides, we all know that the GCW isn't going any where, since they aren't allowed to break continuity. So there needs to be something else to hold our interest.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, hehe.

Xy,

I'm going to put this thread into my email for tomorrow.

It is by far one of the most interesting, well-thought out posts regarding content I've seen.

While I am not sure if it will pass the George Lucas test (he is very careful about who can tell Star Wars stories), the idea of basic quests, etc, is a very interesting way for us to add things to the game- the Devs get help from us. Not only that, it would be another first in the cap of SOE and SWG, and everyone likes being able to say they are the first.

B

Xygar!

I totally agree with you. This seems like a wonderful addition to a already wonderful game.

ILIADo, Tyrena, Valcyn