Hunk said:Obtaining limited time cosmetic items with a cool effect attached was always appealing and people actually wanted to do the event due to the reward being worth the effort. Seeing nearly the entire community all participating in the events was such a good feeling. So many people just hanging out in the towns chatting and doing on the spot games etc.
This was always something I loved about some events on other MMOS. The essence of a having a limited time to be a part of an event. As time passes, you'll reminisce the exact time / place / event of where you got that item.
I was never bothered by RL events in games BUT I am totally on board with keeping Pantheon .. well Pantheon and having Lore related events.
I remember a Halloween event in South Karana in EQ, It was around 2001 where they changed the entire zone. It was and still is the most impressive holiday event in a game I have ever seen. I have no problem with a thing like this once or twice a year for a few days. I found the Christmas thing in WoW to be a bit too kitschy for my taste, The Halloween event in the maze in EQ2 was pretty good the first time but just ok after that. The EQ Halloween event in South Karana/East Karana was dangerous and many characters died that night; it was awesome. I think it even rained blood.
I absolutely love some good in-game revelry!
I don't care particularly whether the celebrations are centered on actual holidays or not - as long as the celebrations happen and my character can get a hold of some fireworks! :)
I would love to see:
-special decorations and perhaps even weather patterns to coincide with the event;
-unique mobs and bosses;
-limited-time quest chains with themed rewards ranging from triviliaties to hard-won gear, each with lore-related flavor text;
-themed food, drink and novelty items;
-low-pressure mini-games or objects (e.g. axe-throwing or a maypole) that can be interfaced with in player hubs;
-fireworks!
I'd be thrilled if seasonal or holiday events were strictly lore and culture driven. You might have some holidays shared globally (New Years). But overall each race has their own story and their own celebrations.
Keep them toned down and subtle so they don't distract too much from the setting.
Keep RL examples out of game. No christmas lights, fake presents, pumpkins taking over the city.
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! :)
Agree 100%. Lore based holidays/festivals and events add some flavour to the game. Keep the real world holidays in the real world. I would hate to login and see folks running around wearing santa hats and decorating christmas trees.
Holidays are cheesy enough in real life, these days; I dislike them greatly in MMOs.
An MMO is where I go to get away from RL.
*IF* they could be done so as to attempt to redress the balance of RL holiday poop, then *maybe* that would be good.
For example, if Christmas in Terminus was all about the Winter Solstice and tradition of gift-giving and surviving the harsh weather, maybe that would be subtle and cool enough a 'theme'. Maybe even involve some events around a Winter spirit and village children and whether or not they were naughty or nice deciding whether they were abducted or not and needed saving before they are sacrificed.
You know what I mean? Something that has a holiday 'theme' but is way more gritty and dark and interesting and NOT CHEESY.
Halloween has potential for a full-on pagan festival to ward off evil creatures and does not have to be cheesy at all - why do people always to it that way?! In an MMORPG you have 'real' evil! 'Real' spirits! Halloween could be a horror-themed, event heaven, but it always seems to be a camped up, cliched mess in MMOs (like it is in RL).
I guess my summary would be, if you do it, *don't* reproduce the RL holiday in the fantasy setting!
I can take or leave the in game seasonal events. If they are done well, they can be fun and entertaining. Rift has a couple festivals that are done pretty well and are tied into the "lore" of the game. If they are too time consumming or offer cheesy rewards, I usually find something else to do.
While I have many friends who enjoyed these things in FFXIV, I'm not a fan at all and seldom participate. My problem with these events is that they are almost always implemented like this:
- Immersion-breaking decorations in cities, making it obvious they're referencing a real life holiday;
- Way-too-easy events in leveling zones that nearly only require you to stand there (and again, immersion-breaking);
- Torrents of inventory clutter, vanity items and other stuff I won't have any use for, ever.
If I was to plan an in-game event for a week, it would be:
- The commemoration of something that happened in the game world, totally unsyched with the real-world calendar
- Many of these holidays would be specific to a certain country. It makes no sense that a state celebrates the independance of an enemy state from its own army.
- These events feature things to do that are as difficult as the normal game and gives access to useful items. Another good "reward" is good game lore for consumption, new info on my favourite NPCs, etc.
I feel the same as the majority: Tasteful, lore-based holidays are extremely welcomed, but a giant NO to RL holidays. An egg wielding diabetic rabbit and a present tossing red obese man shouldn't be allows to make our game gimmicky.
Even tho I don't do it, I still have to look out for role players. That being said, events should be based on in game holidays, off of the in game calendar, not off RL calendar. I come into a game to get away from RL, not jump back into it. Also, role players kinda get the crappy end of the stick for RL holidays. They want to role play their own holidays and what not. Personally, if I was developing a game I would make a calendar on that game, I know it can be hard depending on how long a single day lasts in pantheon, especially when looking at how everquest did it with only 72 minute days, but they did nothing with those 72 minutes except kithicor, which was a cool zone until they changed it and now the undead are always up, it's no longer kithicor at night, it's now just kithicor lol.
Sorry, again i got off track. Anyways, I wish there were ways to make days longer, sadly, if they were a player would be waiting a long time for his mob that only spawns at night. So I understand the fact that its hard to keep track of days inside an MMO. So either way I'm on both sides of the fence, i don't mind in game events at all, that are based off of RL holidays, because of the days in game could be stupid short like EQ. But I also want to look out for role players out there, i don't want the worlds to collide to make them seem like what they want just isn't there.
Cant deny my curiousity for what the ogre's take on halloween would be
Probably decorated chopped off heads replacing the pumkins
and trick-or-treating with delicious stinky guts
Or imagine skar's valentine, consuming and abusive as themselves
overwhelming for any couple <3
Since they don't celebrate Halloween in Europe that much I must admit there have been games like guildwars 2
where I was glad that I could get a taste of what a holiday like Halloween is about.But I dislike the immersion breaking costumes.
The unhealthy curiosity almost makes me pro holidays
But I'd rather see lore-based versions
Or special months dedicated to a specific race.
Oh or imagine a dark Myr xmas where everyone is mesmerized by the lights,while underneath all the glamour,santa is actually a filthy smelly monster from the bitter depths
I dont really mind the Holiday events but they go overboard sometimes (ugh Randolph.. why oh why). I wouldnt be opposed to Terminus having its own holidays not neccessarily relative to the real world. Perhaps some holidays would only be for certain races and their cities and maybe some are for all to celebrate ( Elven Independence Day, The Gnomish State Fair, etc). I think these could be fun and maybe even tie in to the lore somehow. They could be a nice break from the game. As much as I hate WoW... one of the coolest things they had was the darkmoon fair. It was fun getting shot out of a cannon and gambling tokens to try and win prizes. Of course it got old fast but by the time it came back around I was ready to gamble my tokens again. I could definitely see where the gnomes could come up with something similar to this with all of their engineering skills. Of course I am not opposed to good ole fashioned GM events either but these should be unpredictable and happen sporadically not like an in game holiday. I wont be upset at all if there are no holiday events in game but Terminus surely has some kind of annual traditions with all of the inhabitants that live there right?
Oh yush,the lore is rich enough to create some interesting holidays <3
St Patrick could actually be a deranged halfling on the run of his parents
who,like a devious child, ate a few too many cursed fortune cookies while the parents only allowed 1 cooky, for a reason
The guilt trip has caused the halfling to go on a trip,in some degree to flee the wrath of the parents
But also in an euphoric state,totally tripping balls
the halfling now believes that it can radiate that joy and luck onto others
In a generous & alruistic mood the halfling believes improving the lives of others is achievable
Unaware that the joy is actually a nasty curse that hurts more than farting clovers
Maq'esh chicken who have abandoned their mortal flesh are able to spawn magical coloured eggs from their cloaca during easter.
Gnomes use floating bells as delivery service to deliver those magical eggs in their floating cities.Some colours are believed to bring luck
While other coloured eggs bring something else
To remind themselves of their former flesh form,the gnomes also breed fluffy bunnies as reminder
during this special time of the year
The Archai love celebration and battle,
their ethereal energy bonding with natural elements so they can grow larger is seen as a blessing.
So they celebrate this by giving thanks for the harvest of this unique energy.The local turkeys are also bigger because of this energy
So once a year they stuff one with yummies <3 Sometimes they stuff bigger animals or defeated bosses
Those are the extra good harvest years.
Seasonal. or even non-seasonal just because we feel like it, events are a GOOD thing. Events based on game lore are a better thing. Events based on real world religions and holidays - spare me, oh Gods.
I have often cited things EQ2 did as approaches worth following. Because more of us played EQ2 at least briefly than most other MMOs other than EQ itelf and Vanguard so more of us are likely to follow the references. Not because EQ2 is the best MMO ever - it isn't. Time to go the other way - I cringe even at the *thought* of Frostfell which doesn't even make the slightest effort to pretend it isn't Christmas. Let's leave the real world out of Pantheon events if we can. Please!
I would love to see lore based holidays in an MMO. I feel it would help to sustain the immersion, and make us feel part of the world.
However, how would that work since days are shorter in an MMO than in rl? A holiday that happened once a year in game, would happen every 2-4 months in rl. I think it would lose its effect real quickly.
Unless the lore based holidays were celebrated every 2-4 years, making them happen once a year in rl.
