Sierra Kilo

I’ve written a bit about this in the past (somewhere), but I thought I would revisit it here. I’ve decided to title this idea “Auxiliary Pervasive Gameplay” because that’s really the general idea behind it. Auxiliary, meaning that it takes place along side the main game in a supportive role. Pervasive, meaning that it seeps into your normal daily activities.

As information becomes more and more accessible to us (instant stock prices, agregated news via RSS, automatically delivered media a’la podcasts, etc), it is no suprise to me that the number of people reading the daily newspaper has dropped significantly. I get my information delivered to me based on filters that I’ve set up (feeds that I’ve subscribed to). That being said, instead of reading the paper in the morning, I spend a little time scanning headlines (filtering even more) in my RSS reader and reading maybe 5-10 articles per day that I am interested in. This routine gives me a short break to get my caffiene (sp?) fix and a snack. During this time, I would love to spend 5-10 minutes playing a meta-game that would affect my character in-game.

There are many different meta-games in an MMO. Inventory management, for example. Believe it or not, organizing all of your items to your liking is an aspect of the game that adds to the experience. Sure, it’s only micromanagement, but which items do you take with you and which ones do you leave at home?

Speaking of home, do you have any items that you want to display? SWG allowed you to display just about everything in your home. Got Storm Trooper armor that you want to show off? Why not move it around while you’re having your morning coffee using a light game client that can work from behind a firewall at the office?

What I’d really like to see is a shift from combat-specific MMOs to a Sims-like virtual world in a combat-friendly setting. What does your character do while you’re at work? Sure, you logged out, but you can’t expect your hardened warrior to just wait around for you to come back, can you? Like you, he has to have a life outside of work. After a long day of fighting rats in the sewer, maybe your character has a small garden he tends to. Maybe he spends his days knitting sweaters. What if forging swords is his day job and his fun comes when he’s testing his wares with you at the helm? These meta-games (crafting, etc) could be implemented in a web-based environment or with the use of a light game client. Short, 15 minute game sessions handling these tasks would be fun. You could set up what your character is doing all day while you’re at your job. Sure some of the tasks are menial, but that’s why you set them up during your character’s downtime. Combat should take more attention than crafting a boot, so why not allow it to happen when you’re not active?