Poll: Fallout Online

[Sharalon]

Another topic about Fallout got me thinking about the Fallout Online game that Interplay are developing. At the moment they seem to be stuck in some legal dispute with Bethesda about the rights to the Fallout franchise, so I don't think they can throw to much time and money into it before they know for sure.

Anyway, do you like the idea of a Fallout MMO and would you play it? I know it's hard to say, considering that we don't have much info about the game yet.

http://www.fallout-on-line.com/

 

[Darquenaut]

I would love to play a Fallout MMO, but they will have to be VERY careful about it. The Fallout series thus far has more or less always been about the lone hero- the Chosen One, The Vault Dweller, The Courier- etc. so they would need to figure out a storyline that would be able to incorporate multiple characters. Further, they would have to somehow incorporate a... I dunno, a "Karma Pool," in which depending one whom you're playing with would affect the game. For example, if you're playing with someone that takes sick pleasure eradicating the Brotherhood of Steel, the BoS would not treat you as kindly, etc.

 

[Johnson294]

I don't know, I guess I would enjoy if it was done well, I just don't really imagine FO as an MMO type of game.

 

[Tibs]

I do not think it fallout would work as a MMO to be honest.

 

[linwolf]

I don't think Fallout could ever work as an MMO for me.

 

[Savagezion]

It would be good if the time was fast forwarded a bit to where society was beginning to get a foothold and rebuilding again and plant life was scarce but slowly making it's way back. Vault life was a thing of the past and population had managed to come up a bit more. It would then run similar to a frontier type game but with the strange mutants from post war.

So does anyone know what is going on with this contract? I remember hearing about it when Interplay started but haven't heard anything on it since.

 

[Meggiepants]

I don't think so. I just don't play MMOs, so this isn't really a draw for me.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Not an MMO, but maybe Borderlands multiplayer, like you can play with three other people. I do like the Karma pool idea someone mentioned, and I would like them to make buildings climbable, even if I need to carry around a ladder with me, because the first thing I would do in a Fallout like universe is climb to the top of a building (like the grocery store you have to raid in Fallout 3) and set up a camp.

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

I'm always up for a decent MMO and from what i've heard about what interplay is making it'll be great.

Though knowing me i'll end up with some really low karma. Maybe try herding a deathclaw into a village with a lot of unsuspecting players or something.

 

[Sixcess]

I already play Fallen Earth, so I've got my fix of post-apoc MMOs.

I'll be very surprised if FO Online ever gets made. Leaving aside the legal entanglements, single player games don't necessarily translate well into MMOs... something that I strongly suspect Bioware are going to discover before the year is out.

 

[Cylibus]

Assuming the hypothetical scenario of this game actually coming out the way the people are hoping for; even though that seems to be a faint dream; I will vote yes. However, there are many things we have to look at here first.

Take for instance the beginning of Fallout 3; where you are born, and then there's the story that continues on with your father. Obviously, if they made an online Fallout this could not be the case. You most would have to choose a past for yourself so 1,000,000 other people don't have the same past as you; that might seem a bit odd.

Apart from them needing to be careful on what they make the plotline as well as your character's history, they will also need to think about guilds/groups. An MMO is never really a true MMO without them. Either that or it's just not a good one. I've also read another post speaking of a karma pool, in which one person's moral desicions affect how others treat people that person works with, which can tie into guilds/groups thought. I do not want to say how they should make the game, I only want to say what they're going to have to think about. What will be the code of conduct, how will moderators...well....moderate the game. Will they allow others to loot from bodies of people that they didn't kill, and if the loot from, let's say a cabinet, will the contents be gone for a time for everyone, or will the contents only be gone for the person who took it. You cannot simply say "We're going to make an MMO based off of this" and then go with it. An MMO is without doubt one of the hardest if not the hardest type of games to make. What I would suggest to them is to create what they can now, release it only to a certain community, get opinions, expand, upgrade, and build up to the time when they truly think that it's ready for the public. If they have any financial trouble whatsoever, I then suggest that they don't even try with this, because if you try to just squeeze by on an MMO with even the slightest budget problem, the game will end up being useless crap, and you won't make any net income anyway and you'll just be wasting whatever money you have left.

I would like to apologize to anyone who may think I'm addressing them in an ill manner, but I am only stating what I think about this entire idea.

 

[Argtee]

I don't think Fallout could ever work as an MMO for me.

Pretty much this.

I've always liked Fallout as a Single Player game. I don't think that it should be an MMO.
People are going to play it, but I won't be one of them.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I don't really think it would work as an MMO - but I like the idea. I know I'd try it anyway. I'm such a Fallout whore.

"More Fallout?! .........Hey big boy"...*hip-shake*

 

[Sharalon]

It would be good if the time was fast forwarded a bit to where society was beginning to get a foothold and rebuilding again and plant life was scarce but slowly making it's way back. Vault life was a thing of the past and population had managed to come up a bit more. It would then run similar to a frontier type game but with the strange mutants from post war.

So does anyone know what is going on with this contract? I remember hearing about it when Interplay started but haven't heard anything on it since.

I've heard that the game is set between Fallout 2 and 3. About the rights to make the game I think they are just stuck.

"On December 10, 2009 the Maryland District Court decided to deny Bethesda's request for preliminary injunction. Interplay is therefore able to continue development on the project until the case is finished"

That't the last entry on the Fallout wiki about the case.

 

[Facilier]

I think there is a fundamental contradiction between the Fallout setting and MMOs.

Fallout is a world we usually get to experience as the outsider. The appeal is in growing into it, and the game explores this journey, usually ending around the time the character has become a fully integrated member of the world. Being one of a massive number of outsiders would rob the world of much of its alien charm and intrigue.

Fallout is a world defined in many ways by scarcity. Ammunition falls somewhere between limited and rare. MMOs after a certain point degenerate into accumulation of wealth. It's hard to plausibly allow people to keep getting stuff if stuff is supposed to be scarce.

Fallout is fragmented and deserted. The settlements are largely few and far between, with a small number of people, each of whom we get a chance to know. To maintain any kind of ratio of NPCs to PCs that doesn't directly lay siege to our suspension of disbelief would make it so crowded a place as to make us forget it's Fallout.

There is probably an opening for a post-apocalyptic MMO, but Fallout is not the setting that should fill that hole.

 

[JochemDude]

Let me put it like this
Finally a MMO that might not be a fantasy game.

 

[Dosbilliam]

I think I managed to solve the problem about the whole "Chosen One" dealy: what if Russia, China, and Europe all had companies that did something similar to Vault-Tec? The character's nationality would affect their SPECIAL stats slightly and might give other bonuses to skills, plus one or two extra starting perks. The histories could be different, like someone that's a skilled hacker that works on maintaining the few working vehicles his hometown has and occasionally helps defend the town by planting various explosive devices around the borders of the town. Actually, after reading that, it could be similar to the character bio's in DDO; simply optional, but say starting with a well-fleshed out character background gives you some more caps starting out. There would be different questlines for each nation, and after the major issues affecting each area are solved, then you're able to move to other areas and do some quests for the factions there, which I really shouldn't have to name them.

The guild issue could be solved along with the faction relationship issue mentioned above, that of a player's standing with, say, the Brotherhood of Steel being based upon both that player's actions and the actions of who that player interacts with the most could instead be the guild or whatever's standing with that faction, taking all member actions together to determine a single major standing, then taking each player's individual actions to determine, say, conversation choices or if they get attacked on site or not.

Just a few thoughts to think about.^_^

 

[Dansen]

I signed up for the beta close to a year ago, I haven't heard anything.

 

[scarab7]

This the question is a little too broad, of course a lot of people would be interested in a Fallout MMO, it really to what capacity. Most MMOs seem to be stuck in the same formula with a few unique variations and a lot of small ones. I really want something different then all the MMOs played, but not sure what it will be.