Third-Person Community Spaces?

[ColdGlider]

I am looking forward to more elaboration on the feature "...third-person community spaces where you can repair and rearm before going out on your next adventure."

(From this slideshow on Bungie.net)

Image:

Does this mean that the real-life community of fans will somehow be able to set up shop and sell their wares?  Does this mean with in-game currency or will the community be allowed to market their own content in-game via micro-transactions?

Because, well... that would be awesome.  And would take the whole forgehub thingy to a whole new level.

Or is all of that just fancy copy for "there will be NPCs selling you things?"

[Imppa]

There's been some higl-level discussion of this matter in Bnet, about in-game currency and it's inflation and such. I can't remember which was better in comparison, but Player-managed stores would surely be much more fun! I don't know if it'll be anything more than just people standing around and shouting "Buy cowhides" People having their own stalls and stuff would be SUPER awesome, though! Too bad we still have no idea how does Bungie do then networking in Destiny, so it's bit too early to speculate what can be done and what can't.

However, seeing how Destiny's strength is the interaction between people, it would be weird NOT to have any kind of trading system between people.  But own stores? Time will tell, I suppose.

[nightcrafter27]

I had a discussion with some friends a while ago about something like this. We came to the conclusion that since Bungie claims to want to keep the story in Destiny alive for the next ten years, it would be impractical for them to write those stories/events themselves. The only thing that made sense to use is if players can join the factions (Dead Orbit, Seven Seraphs and FWC, off the top of my head) and infight. That would explain why Bungie registered those web domains a while ago, to give players a "home base".
It would make sesn if there was some kind of market system built into the faction system, and that may be what is alluded to here.

[Scatcycle]

I had a discussion with some friends a while ago about something like this. We came to the conclusion that since Bungie claims to want to keep the story in Destiny alive for the next ten years, it would be impractical for them to write those stories/events themselves. The only thing that made sense to use is if players can join the factions (Dead Orbit, Seven Seraphs and FWC, off the top of my head) and infight. That would explain why Bungie registered those web domains a while ago, to give players a "home base".
It would make sesn if there was some kind of market system built into the faction system, and that may be what is alluded to here.

They want to keep the story going for 10 years? That could mean that there will be occasional "event" situation which are basically and added campaign mission. Possibly being something like a bunch of players are brought into one server (or however it works) if they are near each other, and an all out war starts between two or three factions, with ships and all. It possibly even lasts all day, so that people don't miss it. Imagine hearing "hey dude, there's the Seven Seraphs vs FWC war going on in Destiny! It's been going on for four hours! Let's go try to win it!" from a friend. That would be just fantastic.

But I'm probably just fantasizing too much about something that isn't likely to happen.

[Imppa]

They want to keep the story going for 10 years?

That's what I think I've heard, too. Or at least that the game will be hot stuff for the next 10 years or so.

That could mean that there will be occasional "event" situation which are basically and added campaign mission. Possibly being something like a bunch of players are brought into one server (or however it works) if they are near each other, and an all out war starts between two or three factions, with ships and all. It possibly even lasts all day, so that people don't miss it. Imagine hearing "hey dude, there's the Seven Seraphs vs FWC war going on in Destiny! It's been going on for four hours! Let's go try to win it!" from a friend. That would be just fantastic.

But I'm probably just fantasizing too much about something that isn't likely to happen.

Well, maybe things of that scale are a bit over the top, but maybe not! I myself do also believe that factions will be a great spice-up for the game, especially after the game has been running for some years. I've seen how people reacted to factions when they were "released" for the first time, and it looked really fun. Even though you didn't know anything concrete of a faction, people made stuff up and the others played along. While role-playing might be a bit childish for many "mature" gamers, I do think it will work out great.

If it's someone who can pull this off, it's Bungie. I think.

[ColdGlider]

We came to the conclusion that since Bungie claims to want to keep the story in Destiny alive for the next ten years, it would be impractical for them to write those stories/events themselves.

I have to disagree on this point, Night.  Look at it this way:

2014: Destiny
2015: Destiny DLC
2016: More Destiny DLC
2017: Destiny 2
2018: Destiny 2 DLC
2019: More Destiny 2 DLC
2020: Destiny 3
2021: Destiny 3 DLC
2022: More Destiny 3 DLC
2023: Destiny ODST _{(just making sure you were paying attention)}

They may also be looking to expand the world in the same way that WoW expands its world through expansions.  Instead of new planes or continents, it would be new planets and moons.  If you buy the expansion, you can travel there; if not, you get to see other players sporting the cool new items/races/ships/etc they found there.  This model has proven to work well in games like WoW and Borderlands, so why not in Destiny?

In any event, I expect that if they are planning to milk the IP for 10 years then they are planning to sell the new content written for that IP for 10 years.  That would be practical.

Oh, and the 10 year thing came direct from Bungie.  It's in the "Destiny Revealed" video (aka "Pathways Out of Darkness" ViDoc), which you can find here.

[Imppa]

We came to the conclusion that since Bungie claims to want to keep the story in Destiny alive for the next ten years, it would be impractical for them to write those stories/events themselves.

I have to disagree on this point, Night.  Look at it this way:

2014: Destiny
2015: Destiny DLC
2016: More Destiny DLC
2017: Destiny 2
2018: Destiny 2 DLC
2019: More Destiny 2 DLC
2020: Destiny 3
2021: Destiny 3 DLC
2022: More Destiny 3 DLC
2023: Destiny ODST _{(just making sure you were paying attention)}

They may also be looking to expand the world in the same way that WoW expands its world through expansions.  Instead of new planes or continents, it would be new planets and moons.  If you buy the expansion, you can travel there; if not, you get to see other players sporting the cool new items/races/ships/etc they found there.  This model has proven to work well in games like WoW and Borderlands, so why not in Destiny?

In any event, I expect that if they are planning to milk the IP for 10 years then they are planning to sell the new content written for that IP for 10 years.  That would be practical.

Oh yeah, right. Money. I actually didn't think it like that at all! >_<
That does seem practical. And now that I think about it, leaving the quality of the game solely on the hands of community is a little silly idea. Of course, factions still would always be there to spice things up (and hopefully not lame them down), but if Bungie is control of the 'unfolding', things will surely go smoother. (And money. Yeah.)

Thinking that the expansions/the longevity of the game will cost me money worries a bit, but on the other hand, they don't sell games that last 10 years for cheap. And there isn't any membership fee, which is good...Yeah. I'll see how it turns out

 

[nightcrafter27]

Its not like Bungie employees need to feed their families or anything, so why would they need to make money?

Point taken. Concur.

[Scatcycle]

I'd say they could definitely make it work if they stuck with one game. Take League of Legends, for example. It's a free game, but the producers have made millions. Because in the game you can buy skins. They don't make you more powerful or anything, they just look nice. And a lot of people buy them. Since Destiny is all about armor customization, perhaps they could add special "skins" as dlc. I'm sure that could keep their families fed for a while, especially because you get to show off your flair in events.

[Imppa]

I'd say they could definitely make it work if they stuck with one game. Take League of Legends, for example. It's a free game, but the producers have made millions. Because in the game you can buy skins. They don't make you more powerful or anything, they just look nice. And a lot of people buy them. Since Destiny is all about armor customization, perhaps they could add special "skins" as dlc. I'm sure that could keep their families fed for a while, especially because you get to show off your flair in events.

So microtransactions? I don't know...But if that's the way they take, so be it.

[nightcrafter27]

It would be very interesting if they mean third party developers. Kind of like how they outsourced the last Reach map dlc, Bungie might mean that there will be place that a player can go to created and maintained by another studio, with missions and weaponry exclusive to that area. It would make the game extremely vibrant if each planet was made from a unique design perspective, and the individual studios could delve into the atmosphere/culture. It would be the difference of "I looted this gun of an alien on Venus" to "this weapon is [cultural significance/history] to aliens on Venus."

Not sure how anybody would make money off of this, but it would be cool.

[Imppa]

It would be very interesting if they mean third party developers. Kind of like how they outsourced the last Reach map dlc, Bungie might mean that there will be place that a player can go to created and maintained by another studio, with missions and weaponry exclusive to that area. It would make the game extremely vibrant if each planet was made from a unique design perspective, and the individual studios could delve into the atmosphere/culture. It would be the difference of "I looted this gun of an alien on Venus" to "this weapon is [cultural significance/history] to aliens on Venus."

But wouldn't that make the game a bit fragmented? I mean, surely Bungie would oversee everything a third party would create for their game, but it isn't the same as Bungie doing all the things and making them fit the puzzle. Having third parties might even cause some weird competition...Like, I don't know, really differing environments? So differing you'd have problem to realise they're in the same game? (Though surely Bungie would check for things like that, too, but maybe you get the point..)

I don't know. I never played Halo 4, so I don't really know how much the same product can vary between different companies. :/ Or is that a faulty example?

[Scatcycle]

That's a really good example on how much they can differ. Halo 3 is pretty much about skill. Two men enter, better one leaves. Halo 4 is pretty much high tech cod, with points, custom classes and startup weapons, permanent sprinting, etc. There's a huge difference and Bungie wouldn't have made it at all like 343 did.

[nightcrafter27]

Best place to put this. Check out the video, there is some good analysis, but mostly FACTION WARS!