Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Holiday Events

    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 4:10 AM PDT

    Holiday Events - Do you like seeing real world holiday events celebrated in MMORPG fantasy world settings and why? :)

    • 1434 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:18 AM PDT

    That is a tough one. I'm a big advocate for keeping my ideal game world separate from reality. I do not think that the fourth wall should be broken if at all possible. In a proper fantasy world, a lot of hard work goes into establishing a believable alternate reality that draws the player in. Bringing reality into that world runs the risk of undermining that work.

    That said, most modern MMOs haven't done a very good job (imo) at creating that illusion of another world - another reality. To me, they feel fake, so it doesn't really surprise or offend me that they totally "break character" and inject RL holiday embellishments into the game world. Truth is, in those games I kind of like seeing the spooky decorations at halloween, or the candy canes and colored lighting at Christmas time. However, I just don't feel it would be right for a game like Pantheon.

    On the other hand, if done inconspicuously without any direct references or recognizable RL paraphernalia, I think it could be pulled off without offending most people.

    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:21 AM PDT

    Yeah, that is a fairly common position man, I am probably the minority here, but I dislike them, real life events break immersion for me in a fantasy world, so if companies implement them in-game, I usually avoid them as a player.

    • 72 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:35 AM PDT

    I'd prefer to see GM events during the holidays but not built around the holiday. Here's an example:

    What I don't want to see: WoW doing Christmas Trees and Santa quests.

    What I would like to see: Unique mobs with unique loot in specific regions correlated to that Holiday (Halloween in a Kithicor Forest type zone, Christmas in Permafrost, etc etc)


    This post was edited by Furor at October 29, 2015 5:35 AM PDT
    • 724 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:49 AM PDT

    If done "in game", these can be OK. Harvest festival, sure, why not? Just no christmas costumes please, no christmas trees etc :)

     

    And please, no "special festival currency"!!!! (could add more exclamation marks, but you get my point ;)

     

    • 366 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:49 AM PDT

    I absolutely love holiday events in my MMOs. Do they have to mimic our RL holidays - nope ! Pantheon can create its own holidays with all its lore of so many races and worlds coming together there is an infinite number of holidays that can be created. That way people like Dullahan & Sarim who love complete immersion contained  can have it and those who love holidays can also get their fix.

    Why I like holiday events:

    - gives me a mental break from what I am currently doing in-game

    - usually is about pure fun and all playes can participate irregardless of progression

    - its not always there (annual events) so it's something different

    - I get to earn stuff (we all like to earn stuff)

     

    My favorite Holiday Events are in EQ2 - they are so involved and in depth.  There are special and multiple instances and quests per holiday. Special crafting. Minigames. Special collections. Special housing / guild hall items. Hundreds of items in game just dedicated to holiday events. With mentoring you can group with any of your friends regarless of thier progression.  Right now they have their Night's of the Dead event and it really is full of content. You had the Headless horseman which is a raid mob (Epic x 2) A haunted house instance where you have to solve mysteries and puzzles, Another spooky instance with a hedge maze that you have to navigate. Several collections. Several illusions (costumes). Several books of holiday recipes especially for housing. Currency you earn to collect rewards. No other MMO that I have played has ever approached holidays so comprehensively and they were always a lot of fun.

     


    This post was edited by Zarriya at October 29, 2015 6:29 AM PDT
    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 6:07 AM PDT

    Yeah, spot on Zarriya, I really enjoy well-done events that fall within the games Lore but real life ones kill it for me and I usually avoid them like the plague or just log out until they are over.

    • 2138 posts
    October 29, 2015 6:17 AM PDT

    I agree with what Zarriya said.

     

    I like holiday events that "happen" to coincide with RL holidays, but are more game lore related than RL related.

    If these events artistically and subtly hint at RL advertising/mythology images, colors,  that is ok, too.

     

    I also hate to admit that I really like the hokey, cheesy/stupid/"hyuk-hyuk", items, specialty foods, decorations or flimsy "kitch" that usually accompany these events.


    This post was edited by Manouk at October 29, 2015 6:17 AM PDT
    • 71 posts
    October 29, 2015 6:35 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    Yeah, that is a fairly common position man, I am probably the minority here, but I dislike them, real life events break immersion for me in a fantasy world, so if companies implement them in-game, I usually avoid them as a player.

    100% agreed. I never liked seeing RL holiday events in games. If it were something lore based on individual racial heritages, it could be cool. For instance: the Archai celebrating when they were freed from slavery, or the ogres having combat tournaments to honor a war god. Things like this could be "holiday" events, and could occur whenever you please relative to the game world rather than real life holidays.

    Could be cool, but this would fall under a "fluff" category to me. Stuff that could come in after launch.

    • 338 posts
    October 29, 2015 6:47 AM PDT

    If these detract from developer time going into the next real content expansion... then I say nope, not worth it.

     

     

    Kiz~

    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 7:19 AM PDT

    picks86 said:

    Kilsin said:

    Yeah, that is a fairly common position man, I am probably the minority here, but I dislike them, real life events break immersion for me in a fantasy world, so if companies implement them in-game, I usually avoid them as a player.

    100% agreed. I never liked seeing RL holiday events in games. If it were something lore based on individual racial heritages, it could be cool. For instance: the Archai celebrating when they were freed from slavery, or the ogres having combat tournaments to honor a war god. Things like this could be "holiday" events, and could occur whenever you please relative to the game world rather than real life holidays.

    Could be cool, but this would fall under a "fluff" category to me. Stuff that could come in after launch.

    Exactly and the Archai and Ogres events would be awesome, that is something I would get in on :)

    • 5 posts
    October 29, 2015 8:29 AM PDT

    I'm not a fan of them. Thery ruin the immersive feel of the world to me.

    I wouldn't mind festivals, at off holdiay times, if they were race specific and in those race's home cities. However, in a game with factions, this would cause problems as people would be excluded and they would start bikcering over it. Having a centeral place for everyone to celebrate something, having all come from different worlds with different celeberations, seems ludicrous to me.

    I would rather the devs spent time working on other things.

    • 781 posts
    October 29, 2015 8:47 AM PDT

    I am not a fan of them either.  I am one of those who likes to feel immersed in my gaming environment and they do not have any of our holidays..heh

    • 154 posts
    October 29, 2015 9:06 AM PDT

    I'm pretty indifferent. I don't recall every thinking "Well that is distastful or annoying" for an holiday them in a MMO but I am sure it can be done. Well done or poorly done though I probably will just ignore them unless I am grouping with people interested in them.

    • 429 posts
    October 29, 2015 11:09 AM PDT
    Not a fan of real life holiday events in game . The earth has people from all cultures therefor celebrating certain holidays leaves other cultures out ...
    • 51 posts
    October 29, 2015 11:12 AM PDT

    I like to be immersed too, but I don't necessarily have my immersion broken by holiday events. Of course it depends on the event. Halloween events are fun but very immersion breaking. Summer/winter solstice, the harvest, end of winter, etc are holiday events that make perfect sense if the seasons are like Earth's, as most fantasy worlds are, so they don't break immersion at all for me. As long as they're lore-friendly I have no problem with it. Surely there's a lore-friendly way to do a day of the dead type event without jack-o-lanterns and candy.

     

    I really like picks86's idea of race-specific celebrations. That's a great way to make the world feel even more alive and authentic. It would also be a great way to emphasize certain aspects of each race's history so we get to know them on a more personal level. What's important to them; what are their great triumphs; their great defeats; who they mourn; who they celebrate... HOW they celebrate... It would be a lot of fun, and create immersion instead of jeapordizing it.


    This post was edited by Typhon at October 29, 2015 11:14 AM PDT
    • 511 posts
    October 29, 2015 11:16 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    Yeah, that is a fairly common position man, I am probably the minority here, but I dislike them, real life events break immersion for me in a fantasy world, so if companies implement them in-game, I usually avoid them as a player.

     

    My thing is if it is cosmetic I am ok with it, if you get special prizes that are so OP you have to have them Randolph in VG) and force you to log in every day and do a set task each day, those types of events I dont like. If it is just some snow on buildings, maybe a few small quest for food and drinks, that I am ok with.

    Also don't pull a WoW and have some kind of special event every week...

    • 211 posts
    October 29, 2015 11:25 AM PDT

    picks86 said:

     If it were something lore based on individual racial heritages, it could be cool. For instance: the Archai celebrating when they were freed from slavery, or the ogres having combat tournaments to honor a war god. Things like this could be "holiday" events, and could occur whenever you please relative to the game world rather than real life holidays.

    Could be cool, but this would fall under a "fluff" category to me. Stuff that could come in after launch.

     

    I'm neutral. I enjoy them if they're there, but it won't break my heart if they're not. One thing that annoyed me about WoW's events, is that they never changed. I was still getting the same lame gifts for Christmas I was 8 years ago. All the items obtained from the special currency, all the achievements achieved... they may as well not exist for me because there's nothing for me to do since nothing new was ever added. I remember the time EQ converted the entire East Karana zone I think it was to a Halloween theme - totally immersion breaking probably but it was fun. Maybe Rathe Mountains too if I remember right, had some big skeleton dragon in it.

    But I like the idea of what I quoted in this message. Maybe it's immersion breaking to put OUR holidays in Terminus, but surely each race's culture has their own reasons to celebrate! Also celebrated could be the day the halflings' curse was broken, or the day the dark myr were able to walk on land!

    • 429 posts
    October 29, 2015 12:36 PM PDT
    I think it's a excellent idea to celebrate Terminus's races and their events , makes more sense then celebrating Christmas :)
    • 43 posts
    October 29, 2015 3:55 PM PDT

    I don't really like holidays in online games.  I'd prefer development resources be given to making a weather/time system that mimics seasons, if truth be told.  I can imagine it's Christmas if there's snow on the ground in the equivalent of December (in geographically appropriate areas.)  I don't need to see candy canes and presents, lights, ornaments lying around.

    If there MUST be holidays then they should be very specific to in-game lore and not simply shades of reality.  Is there a certain god of the pantheon (no pun intended) that the in-game citizens would worship at a certain time of year?  What are his/her symbols?  What rituals accompany this?  It doesn't have to be presents and Christmas trees, for goodness sake, it can be and should be more original than that and more closely tied to lore of the virtual world.

    • 1778 posts
    October 29, 2015 4:02 PM PDT
    Dont care either way. If tbey are there Ill enjoy them if not then Ill do something else.
    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 4:14 PM PDT

    I am surprised by the responses, I honestly thought I would be in a very small minority, but it appears that many of you are thinking the same way as myself, which is very cool :)

    I really like lore friendly/faction events or GM/Guild/Server events, but the real life ones just don't do anything for me other than ruin immersion and don't get me started on Randolph, I hated that thing with a passion! lol, nothing ruins immersion more than going about your daily in-game life when all of the sudden you see this slow paced, sparkle farting reindeer flying above you polluting the sky! :)

    • 511 posts
    October 29, 2015 4:38 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    I am surprised by the responses, I honestly thought I would be in a very small minority, but it appears that many of you are thinking the same way as myself, which is very cool :)

    I really like lore friendly/faction events or GM/Guild/Server events, but the real life ones just don't do anything for me other than ruin immersion and don't get me started on Randolph, I hated that thing with a passion! lol, nothing ruins immersion more than going about your daily in-game life when all of the sudden you see this slow paced, sparkle farting reindeer flying above you polluting the sky! :)

     

    There was this guy that yelled at me for Randolph pooping on his head, I bet this person was you!

    • 17 posts
    October 29, 2015 5:10 PM PDT

    I wouldn't call them Christmas and such, but I love seasonal events like EQ2's Frostfell and Nights of the dead, as well as take games like WoW, who even have events for certain times of the year like the lunar festival or the midsummers fire festival etc. That way you have times to celebrate real holidays with pantheons own unique twist as well as their own unique to terminus holidays for things we don't have in the real world.

    • 9115 posts
    October 29, 2015 6:32 PM PDT

    Dreconic said:

    Kilsin said:

    I am surprised by the responses, I honestly thought I would be in a very small minority, but it appears that many of you are thinking the same way as myself, which is very cool :)

    I really like lore friendly/faction events or GM/Guild/Server events, but the real life ones just don't do anything for me other than ruin immersion and don't get me started on Randolph, I hated that thing with a passion! lol, nothing ruins immersion more than going about your daily in-game life when all of the sudden you see this slow paced, sparkle farting reindeer flying above you polluting the sky! :)

     

    There was this guy that yelled at me for Randolph pooping on his head, I bet this person was you!

     

    Nah lol, I didn't react to anyone with them, just bottled up my dislike and vented internally (and maybe a little bit towards the devs on occasion) ;)