One of the parts of MMO content that I often overlook are in-game events. These small pockets of in-game happenings can last anything from a couple of hours to a few weeks, providing players with an alternative to other activities.
Whether they’re the seasonal events that are loosely tied to real-world ones, dynamic events as made popular by Rift, GM-led events in the style made popular by Star Wars Galaxies or just player-led roleplay events, there’s no doubt that they help to break from the encroaching monotony of daily quests and reputation grinding.
They’re also a huge magnet for griefing. The time-bound duration of the events coupled with a specific set of objectives or (especially in the case of player led events) a lack of GM oversight, means that disruptive players have little risk when being a nuisance. This presents a dilemma – how do you run and encourage regular events without giving griefers a free pass to be problematic?
Carbine Studios recently launched a series of discussions as part of their way of encouraging potential players to help shape the game. Known as Wildstar Community Update, these discussions are set to take place on either Facebook or Twitter, and focus around a particular topic.
The first in the series focused on what in-game events players would like to see, with all four main event types came up along with a few interesting variations on GM-led events. You can have a look at most of the messages by searching for the #WSUplink hashtag. As part of the discussion, Troy “Aether” Hewitt from Carbine’s Community Relations team asked me a question:
I have this dream of putting anti-griefing tools into the hands of players. What tools would you like to see?
At the time I said I’d need to think about it, and that I’d get back to him. After some careful thought I don’t think I have all the answers, but I think I at least have a direction to head in with some basic pronciples. Have a read through and see what you think, and feel free to add your own suggestions at the end.
