Bingjack brought up a good point, one problem that these games face is how to defend yourself when logged off. AI could be used to some extent, it's possible that it could be good enough to be acceptable, but how much control does the AI get? What if the AI spends all your money on defenses that you didn't want? It would take quite some time to get this right.
Another problem, is that in 4X games you generally increase in power throughout the game until you have a super powerful empire near the end. This presents a problem, because you will have players who have been around a long time with a huge empire going up against new players with a tiny empire who don't stand a chance.
I'm not saying that a massively multiplayer 4X game is impossible, but it will take a lot of thought and creative ideas to figure out how to solve these problems.
There was, and maybe still is, a mmorpg called "world war II online" that was pretty good. The problems of the territory/empire/continuity didn't come up in the sense they have here, because it was a first-person-shooter type. When you went to sleep, it was about the same as a soldier going to sleep or on leave or something. If your side lost or gained ground you just took up from there and played on when you woke up ... like in real warfare, as an individual soldier. I quit playing because they couldn't get the ai right (it could shoot through trees and buildings and kill your vehicle before you could even see it), and they kept adjusting the vehicle/aircraft to pander to a certain crowd that was always complaining ... "the german fighters are too superior" ... or "the ai machine guns should be able to kill a plane with only 5 bullets" ... there was even a certain tank, the british matilda, that was completely invulnerable! After hitting one with over 75 rounds of german medium tank fire, in the rear, and it didn't die, I knew something was fishy in ww2online-land.
I don't see any way of maintaining the continuity with an entire fleet or empire taking a time out ... I guess some limitations just can't be overcome. Unless, maybe, you turn your empire over to someone else to play with when you need to sleep.
none of you have heard of EVE online THE 4x mmo
www.eve-online.com
It has everything you could ever want and more |
Ive played Eve and, in my opinion, its not a 4X game at all. You control only one ship and thats it. Also it gave me a very artificial feel when I played it. Felt more like you were using some kind of (poorly designed) operative system than actually controlling a ship.
Btw having a monthly cost for a MMORPG is more or less mandatory. It costs money to buy and run expensive servers.
Eve suks. Oh, it's fun learning the new stuff etc, but after you figure out that the older players, and even the supposed-to-be-impartial moderators, spend 90% of THEIR time laughing at and thinking up ways to exploit the noobs out of sheer boredom, it assumes it's rightful place as trash and a waste of time and money.
