A question of ethics in MMORPGs

[Kasreyn]

Actually, I meant that the game should add the probabilities that each key has, and apply the total probability, the same way it does with resistance from items.

No real need to make supplies (arrows, bolts, keys, pots) perishable since they get used up in time anyway.

Good point. But I *would* prefer that bows have a repair cost. As it is, it seems Amazons get off really easy. In high difficulties (and even in Normal, after Act 2), costs for arrows become negligible. But really, bows are more subject to damage from use than many other kinds of weapon - bowstrings fray, crack, and eventually split and must be replaced.

I'd also like to see heavier bows require more Str than they currently do; fantasy fiction books like to talk about bows with 100-pound pulls, but I can say from experience, they're not very realistic. Not many people could fire a bow with that kind of pull for very long without wearing out.

As to the chests, I think it might be too complex to have each key attuned to a single chest. Rather, I think each key you buy should be a "skeleton" key that can open some but not all chests. It makes sense for a scoundrel like Gheed to sell skeleton keys. =P

The Undead at night, animals in the day is a great idea. For instance, in the Tamoe Highlands it might be Bone Mages and Bone Warriors at night, Blood Hawks and Moon Clans during the day. They did that in EverCrack (different mobs (enemies) spawn in an area depending on time of day), and it made the game more interesting. There were some areas that were newbie safe in the day, but dangerous even to mid-level characters at night...

As to games not dominated by marketing and fx, there are such games, but not in the genre of video games. =\ At least, not very many. I wonder which came first: videogamers' insistence on graphics being the first and foremost aspect of a new game, or videogame makers' decision that that should be their selling point? The chicken, or the egg?

-Kasreyn