Idea Info Name: Fleet Index: Primary Category: Online Submitted: 2/6/2003 1:57:55 PM Written By: NecroSen Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

Many online games try to emulate war in a sense where every player has the equal chance of success, given to a basic set of rules that they must follow. Usually, being given equal abilities allows all players to interact on the same level and, hopefully, work together towards a common goal. Many players, however, will act on their own, achieving their own goals more often than helping their team.

Despite the skill of a few, there can be nothing greater than the abilities of a well-organized fighting force with a single, common goal. This is especially true when two fighting forces of such caliber face off against each other. Within the gaming world, players with exceptional skill remain separated, and thus they cannot meet the true challenge of fighting in a real war.

Fleet would change that. It would bring players from all genres and pit them against each other in a battle for supremacy: to see how these players can work together and use each other's individual skills to help them be victorious. It would test their abilities to communicate and coordinate their efforts as well as their abilities as single fighters against a larger, coordinated force.

This would be achieved by giving the players themselves control over their respective races. The players would handle everything from construction, research, and economics right down to the command structure and the actual fighting. Everything involved with military action would be within the grasp of the players, including aspects like spying, espionage, even defection.

Each player’s experience in previous games would be used within Fleet much like fields of expertise. For example, strategy gamers could control the command structure and handle resources and construction, while those who enjoy first-person shooters and squad-based tactical sims could take orders from these commanders. Flight sim gamers could pilot aircraft in an atmosphere; space combat gamers could fight in the space layer of the game’s universe, piloting fighters and bombers or commanding large ships; players of games such as Deus Ex and Metal Gear: Solid could work as spies and saboteurs.

And because the players would control the game, the outcome of the war would not be decided beforehand by a set of preprogrammed missions. The commanders themselves decide what portions of the universe are important to their agenda and allocate forces to those locations. In turn, opposing force would decide which of his enemy's positions he should try to overthrow, and then send his forces to those locations. Each mission would be set up by the players themselves, based on what the commander feels is necessary for success. Mission objectives would not have to be coded because the commanders themselves would decide whether or not an objective was completed.

All in all, this is a simple concept with far-reaching effects. People that play games like Earth & Beyond, Anarchy Online, Homeworld, or almost any space-based or science fiction war game would love this. It would allow for total control over the life of a soldier, something yet to be achieved.

EDIT: 10/19/03------------------------------------------------------

I've been away from writing much of anything, but now I feel I should clarify this idea.

I failed to mention how Fleet would not involve seperate servers with small numbers of players: rather, everyone would be connected to the same game, much like MMORPGs such as Everquest and Asheron's Call. Thus, what I said about command structures, research, economics, etc., would carry over for all aspects of that fleet.

This is mainly the reason for the title I have given this game: all things are connected to the one and only fleet. The command structure is a singular, never-changing basis for control over the fleet by those at the top. Furthermore, there would be two, maybe three, fleets in the entire game (preferrably two to simplify combat).

It would be best, though, to have a set command structure for both sides instead of having players decide. It might also work best if a select few "game gods", working for the developer, controlled the top brackets of command, thus ensuring that the game is not held up by the woes of indivual players. This follows the basic pattern of games like Anarchy Online, which has its support staff playing the game itself in order to help players on that level.

Obviously this would be a game that requires a subscription fee, but I'm sure that with the features I have pointed out above, this would be hell of a thrill ride for just about anyone. I have always had a slight fixation on the workings of military forces, especially on a scale as grand as the one I am proposing here. It doesn't matter to me if I get compensation for this game, as I most likely will not: I just want to play it.