My ideas about artifacts came from thinking in the shower–-I’m sure what you mentioned in your dream game was an influence, as was AD&D, and even Horizons to a degree, among a lot of other sources. I felt it was close enough that I looked for your dream game link on The Cesspit, but found that there wasn’t a good anchor to go right to the relevant paragraph.
Regarding artifact loss being confusing or “un-fun,� I tend to view possession of an artifact as a kind of Capture the Flag, which is itself a kind of Keep Away game. Heck, even my dog knows how to play keep away. After your comment, I believe an additional challenge for the designer will be to adequately communicate that artifacts are different than rare loot in other games–even if the rules are blunty communicated by NPCs (quest test or overheard conversations), or if the artifact itself is given a simple “personality� (like Eliza). The designer must make it very obvious what the ground rules are, and in the context of the game.
Finally, I know that both my wife and I found kiting mobs in-game (either by ourselves, or witnessing other players doing it) to be a very enjoyable emergent meta-game. WoW’s designers claimed that they factored kiting into their game by making mobs that are too far from home “neutral� unless attacked. I’m willing to lift that mechanism from WoW for the artifact hunt: the mobs ignore players who don’t aggro them when they’re in the hunt. How to represent that they are part of the hunt is another challenge–a simple solution is, again, to have the mobs shout about what they’re doing: “Kill Henry! He stole the Orb of Pteros!� Personally, I think seeing uber mobs up close, and perfectly safely, can be a lot of fun for newer players who haven’t exhausted the game’s content.
Artifacts
My ideas about artifacts came from thinking in the shower–-I’m sure what you mentioned in your dream game was an influence, as was AD&D, and even Horizons to a degree, among a lot of other sources. I felt it was close enough that I looked for your dream game link on The Cesspit, but found that there wasn’t a good anchor to go right to the relevant paragraph.
Regarding artifact loss being confusing or “un-fun,� I tend to view possession of an artifact as a kind of Capture the Flag, which is itself a kind of Keep Away game. Heck, even my dog knows how to play keep away. After your comment, I believe an additional challenge for the designer will be to adequately communicate that artifacts are different than rare loot in other games–even if the rules are blunty communicated by NPCs (quest test or overheard conversations), or if the artifact itself is given a simple “personality� (like Eliza). The designer must make it very obvious what the ground rules are, and in the context of the game.
Finally, I know that both my wife and I found kiting mobs in-game (either by ourselves, or witnessing other players doing it) to be a very enjoyable emergent meta-game. WoW’s designers claimed that they factored kiting into their game by making mobs that are too far from home “neutral� unless attacked. I’m willing to lift that mechanism from WoW for the artifact hunt: the mobs ignore players who don’t aggro them when they’re in the hunt. How to represent that they are part of the hunt is another challenge–a simple solution is, again, to have the mobs shout about what they’re doing: “Kill Henry! He stole the Orb of Pteros!� Personally, I think seeing uber mobs up close, and perfectly safely, can be a lot of fun for newer players who haven’t exhausted the game’s content.