The MMORPG Idea

* See also Game_Experience
* See also MMORPGs
* See also Game_of_this_type_-_Difficulties
* See also STORY
* See also Canon and Expanded_Lore_Canon
--- --- --- --- ---
MMORPGs Have to be All Things to All People :
Would it (could it/should it) be an MMORPG overlapped with RTS elements ( and in places with FPS for 'battles' ). The setting would be post-Lamb as to not interfere with the BS1-BS2 plotlines/Canon. 
There would be the usual Player vs the Environment, but how much would you allow Player vs Player ?  Open Constant PvP is usually disruptive to a game with long term goals (ie - rebuilding Rapture), so would have to be contained/controlled.   
Cooperative Multi-Player Games are usually more interesting than simplistic hack/slash/shoot games, and can introduce more intricate interactions. The Rapture World Map could be endlessly expanded ( computer on-the-fly generating techniques can get past the 'static' limitation ). 
A low Player-count per Server 'World' might keep the game from looking too ridiculously crowded in the popular central areas (and everywhere else) - preventing the local Server overload issue. ClientClient-end]] Computers have continually been getting more powerful and all of it will be needed for more complex and interesting Terrain and Environment. 
Greatly expanded Story would be a key element for those who wanted MORE out of the Rapture Tale.
--- --- ---
Jack, I Am Your Father   (Ryan AND Fontaine) :
Both Ryan and Fontaine say this, so its only a minor variation of that post-StarWars Cliche.
For the MMORPG, we can leave it in place.  I would actually (for the MMORPG) try to HOLD INTACT MOST  of the Pre-Infinite-BS Canon/Lore. AND augmenting the given vagaries with plausible additional information and explanations/clarification (Have the Players enjoy discovering these as they explore the MMORPG world), as well as try to explain the seeming contradictions (if possible).   Rapture is a bigger Story than what could fit into a few measely games (and a Novel), and it is obvious the writers initiated ideas bigger than could fit into a Solo player game.
There exist many literary Anthologies where multiple authors add-on and expand an original author's vision of a fictional 'universe'.   This MMORPG may be something new, where not just the writing but visual presentation of the expanded story can be realized and be made to play out for the audience.
--- --- ---
My MMORPG IDEA - Plausibility ????:
I don't really think it likely happening 'any time soon', and certainly not with ALL the things I propose. I have no Serious Expectation - Few companies could do it properly, and if anything, we would instead get some lame warmed-over content (like most other MMORPGs seen these days). The risk of such a Project makes most companies ignore any such proposal. Competency to actually do it is also a major issue.
BioShock is a candidate for an MMORPG because of its Compelling Setting and Large-enough Fanbase.
Its 'World' would be large enough -- We actually saw only a tiny bit of all of Rapture (the city was supposed to be one of 20000+ people  and we saw the businesses and residences of a few hundred at most). Rapture isn't really that small (and if done right you COULD go outside freely into the Sea, as that environment could be largely expanded on for more variety).   
Look at this WIKI's wall-of-text, and it explains how it would need to work (Modular Design,  better Tools, Auto-Generation, tapping into the Players for alot of the Creation). Any one of those REQUIRED ELEMENTS is a major project that ALL the companies just don't want to take the risk - just to ATTEMPT to make a breakthrough on.
--- --- ---
Something I Advocate/Proselytize (I WANT computer games to get better, and think we are stuck in a rut) :
Current game limitations (size, detail, reality)  are being caused by game production limits (time, money, available skill, target hardware/software, expectations).
Question : How to get past the current difficulties to produce (better ?) more detailed games ?
Answer : Massive Player participation in producing game assets and incremental reuse/accumulation/improvement of what is created for multiple/additional games.
* "Assets" include basic 3D shapes/animations through AI scripting, upto game mechanics coding.
* Player's manpower, time, creative/technical skill dwarf any company's resources by many magnitudes
* Collaboration - let those who excel in certain tasks do those tasks at all levels of difficulty/specialization.  
Difficulties :
* Idiot-proofing of the required tools is probably a bigger project than creating any 3 AAA games
* Extensive Vetting process is needed to control production quality/appropriateness (Player again having to do majority of the work)
* Risk adverse game companies balking at the initial cost/uncertainty of the whole Player Created Asset process
* Cohesive vision by whoever designs the game (the company presumably) working within the 'committee' style amateur  workfoce.
Advantages :
* Tools created (subject to Player improvement themselves) are applicable to production of many games/genres
* Reuse (accumulation) of Assets between different games (massive Templating) cuts a major cost (and allows smaller niche games)
* Computer Hardware and Software marches forward giving us more to work with. 
* Tapping into Player creativity - the production becomes a desired activity in itself
--- --- ---
Turning Ideas Into ... GAME REALITY :
Ideas are "a dime a dozen", (and I've listed at least a thousand here).  Turning those ideas into Reality is the difficult (HARD) problem.    The idea of having Players take THEIR ideas and then easily create decent game Content for a MMORPG is a solution that eventually will come  (the game industry itself could like this type of thing because it can cut their costs/risks significantly).
Reuseable Assets could be employed game following game without having to pay to rebuild all the Asset objects each time.  Human figure animations in particular --  when large numbers of them become available as a 'palate' to compose game happenings with.   Companies could then concentrate on (put more effort towards) the game mechanics, story and extravagant/imaginative scenes.
Decent Tools to provide that 'ease' (and a game engine which can use the wide range of resulting Assets) will eventually be done -- otherwise computer games will continue to stagnate as they already have.    Thinking about there being so many reuseable assets -- the Creator (Player) would need to be able to quickly find (search) and inspect those available, to fit into whatever assemblage they conceive of and wish to create.  Good Search Tools would need to exist, and  include quickly applying the found Assets into their composition (for viewing) to verify it being what the creator imagined.
--- --- ---
A Game Which Is Different Game Things To Different People :
This MMORPG seems to be a combination of "XCOM", "GTA", "BioShock" and "Minecraft" (and "Angry Birds") with its multitude of different elements :
XCOM - Player has a 'Team' to coordinate and to equip matching their individual abilities and for specific missions . The Player might directly interact with only a handful at onetime, but have many others that are useful for other situations or in supporting roles.
BioShock - All the mutant goodness, and our favorite setting of Rapture - the Wonderland below the Sea.
GTA - The 'huge' World map with alot of interactions everywhere you go. Extensive 'Sandbox' activities.
Minecraft - Players construct/reconstruct things in-game using standard components, and can create outside the game in the Asset Editors/Tools ( making stuff for other Players to play In-Game with ). There are far fewer limitations on how things can be constructed and more creative combinations.
Angry Boids - the plethora of Mini-games that connect/interact with the main MMORPG game activities.
--- --- ---
Elements For Such A Game (The 4 'X's) :
Exploration : find your way around initially and figure how things work (getting supplies and interacting with NPCs/ other players and hazards), and then finding a place for your 'rebuilding' effort, and then back to salvage all the things you will need to do so.  A real city has to have extensive manufacturing and places to get raw materials, the New York skyline part is just the pinnacle of a much larger complex ( with much of it potentially in cheaper rock tunnels and all those highrises we see in those pretty views ).  Places we've seen/been in in BS1/BS2 would be in evidence, they are unique, so we don't want to see them endlessly repeated, but components of them would be recombined with additional ones to extend the city in any/all directions.  It will take a bit of development work to come up with additional unique 'key' areas (other parts of the large city we haven't seen yet) in addition to more generic parts or areas generated with combinatoric Building Block components to make them semi-unique.  Some places/locations you wont reach til you achieve basic things like a diving suit or bathysphere ( as part of the standard Mission/Quest chains ).
Expand: as you continue, you get more resources to work with ( ? recruiting a Big Daddy - who can do major external repairs, setting up some production for trade, collecting Splicers, equipment, etc..)   Your efforts would have setbacks, but that is just more challenges to overcome.  New Missions/Quests would be required as your infrastructure grows, and more complex things are needed, and you tie in with the larger systems/institutions that had existed in the 'city'.
Amenities to make your Rapture world safe/livable with be needed.  Many tasks would require cooperating with other Players (though usually such a game has to have alternatives in case insufficient Players ( or uncooperative ones only ) are available.-- so more than one solution should be offered to Players to achieve their goals.
Exploit: The more you achieve the more 'Followers' (NPCs/lackeys/minions) you can accumulate in your 'Team'.
I would expect some kind of  'Cure'  for at least the insanity part of the ADAM addiction, and part of the Player's tasks would be catching 'wild' Splicers to 'heal' them (the game plot might actually have YOU start as one that Tenenbaum got to and set loose in her crusade to 'save' Rapture).  
Major (difficult) structural repairs open up old 'drowned' areas for further expansion, and there are bits of machinery everywhere to acquire and put to use.  The RTS aspect would be setting your Team NPC 'Minions' SEE "Venture Brothers" (Adult Swim) concept of 'lackeys' to a 'super villain' ... adapted to a MMORPG game player to work on the extensive city rebuilding/repairs/cleanup projects, and your search-for/finding 'Specialists' with critical Skills to do certain tasks ( so more Player Missions/Quests to find/recruit/borrow them ).   An interesting thing would be your 'Followers' being represented in an FPS view (ie- pets or followers) with them acting (a decent AI) somewhat realistically /appropriately (with some imperfections/misbehavior at least forgivable because of their 'splicer origin).
Alot of game development effort would be needed to have these NPCs act 'normal',  without them either becoming too repetitive or standing around like (the usual)  mannequins -- The same should go for all the NPCs to make them feel more like people inhabiting a City rather than being mere props).
As the environs in New Rapture are repaired/restored, they start to look more like what Rapture was before 'the fall' (though the patchwork wont let it look too pristine and this only in places fully reworked by Players' efforts -- some 'task' goals are for social prestige, to try to encourage this).  There will be many things again working and a normalcy not seen for a decade -- in the central areas where all the Players have concentrated their work and frequently congregate (the 'Bank' in so many MMORPGs).   No more leaks/fires, garbage/stains/wreckage cleaned up, fresh coat of paint, lights working again, graffiti removed from walls, doors/elevators holes in walls repaired -- all tasks to be done (if desired) by the Player in his own area, as well as in communal City areas.  Shops operating again (preferably with Player generated goods/services), the usual cosmetic components so popular with this game (Art Deco, Metropolitan and Edwardian styles), medical treatments being advanced to try to eliminate the worst of the Splicer's disfigurements, etc etc etc....   Rapture rising again....
Might this have to be one of those cycle games, where each 'World' goes thru phases and has some 'ending', as it develops towards some final goal ??   Usually there are many separate Server Worlds running in different stages, and part of the game for some people is to go see what other people achieved in the different 'worlds'.   Rapture is huge though (20k-40k people) and there can always be more of it in 'ruin' and with pockets of wild Splicers in need of 'Saving', to be effectively endless ...  Possibly it could be run both ways.
Exterminate: There would be old Factions (NPC Splicer groups with 'Bosses') who wont like what you are doing, and will have to be countered/fought -- organized efforts with assistance from other Players ( afterwards opening more resources/access those Factions controlled ).   There could be some external threats ( KGB/CIA/Reality Shows/Jacques Cousteau ) that have to be likewise countered/fought off.   Fighting off the odd sea life, as well as the sea's endless fatal pressure would be likely threat components.  FPS can take place in these conflicts, though with more 'assistance' from your minions and other Players.  If you want PvP, I suppose you could organize sports competitions ( using your Splicers as teams -- we saw those guys in football uniforms in BS1 -- so where did they come from ?? )  Competition --  that was in Ryan's vision, and will mostly have to suffice with scores and achievements and status items as in most games.  Competing to rebuild will be the biggest challenge.
So there's an outline for BioShock 4 'The Rebirth of Rapture' or "Rapture Reborn"
--- --- ---
==Issues :==
An important issue would be : Who owns the rights to the Rapture game assets ( including the working data so that it can be fed back into the Toolchain to reuse/modify it ).
Having ALL the BS1/BS2 data would give a big 'leg up' for an MMORPG flavored game, where all those places/props/figures/effects/sounds/textures/animations we have already seen could be reused and NOT have to be redeveloped. All the DLC content, even the MP maps could be reused ( heck, even the MP Apartment ).
As I mentioned above, part of the MMORPG would be unseen 'unique' sections which we would want newly developed to make them look different and provide for new missing 'city' functions , and complement the existing stuff. But then also to extract certain elements/features to use as 'building blocks' for the computer generated extensions to be able to have a truly large playing area ( methods to auto-generate entire sections of cityscape is possible, and it is a matter of making sure they don't get repetitive ).
There are dozens of skyscrapers in Rapture which usually have duplicate floorplans on dozens of floors. Tunnels in the rock ( the cheaper parts of Rapture to build - with no expensive watertight windows ) can still be surfaced to look like they are buildings ( like Moonbase Alpha ) for low rent areas. Bare rock for interlinking transport/utility tunnels/caverns containing industry/warehouses/mines/greenhouses/etc... The exterior areas can have that wide variety of sea life we've already seen in the games.
The game engine itself doesn't have to be 'new' as the ones they used are more than adequate for the FPS views. RTS( real time shooter ) interfaces are much simpler (a good mapping system would be needed) and since the FPS is the primary game it wont need the full development work ( as if it had been the primary playing interface ). I'm sure they could come up with some nifty 'Art Deco' styled interface to help you keep track of you followers/minions/projects/tasks.
Something better for NPC dialogues would be desirable (that can add alot of developer asset work if you actually talk to the NPCs -- versus the sad popup text dialog sub-windows most MMORPGs have). The Mini-Games that we've seen for hacking could be reapplied (and expanded) for 'repairs' of all those bits of mechanical doodads the city needs to remain dry and warm and lit.
--- --- --- 
==Another idea to stretttttch the MMORPG :==
I was looking at a thread about having a game of 'Rapture in its heyday' which likely would be too limited by itself but with the extent of Rapture being recreated in my MMORPG proposal, it would be relatively easy to have (many) FLASHBACKS to that time as part of the MMORPG game.
Extended flashback where you take part ( they've done this in LOTROLord of the Rings Online - MMORPG a bit ) in big events like the big fight on NewYears1959 when things fell apart, or when Fontaine was taken down and various other important scenes (the first Splicers, the first Lil Sisters & BigDaddies, Ryan's dedication of the city, etc, etc ...). Since the Core areas of the city are to be largely-there/recreated as part of the game (and getting mostly repaired/restored (eventually) by the players), with a little polish they could look new as original for the Flashback sequences.
One of the things the game companies have found out about MMORPGs is that different players have different areas of interest and having a variety of things for them to do increases the potential player base. Flashbacks telling more of the story of Rapture could be an important part of that ( They are also easier to make incrementally as they are independent episodes AND they can be choreographed to make them work properly to tell their mini-stories ).
Ideas :
Another idea that might be interesting ( and be part of the RTS aspect --- AND be inline with the current technology craze ) would be an interface which allows players to monitor/control their non-avatar resources which can run on tablets/palmtops ( a 'non-3D' interface, though '3D' effects could be there optionally for flavor/glitz).
The MMORPG players are rebuilding/repairing/expanding Rapture and have NPCs ( ex-splicers/big-daddies/auction-house agents/etc ... ) under their control that would be working on the tasks that take time/boring and make slow progress. '2D' symbolic representations corresponding to NPC worksites the player has designated would have NPC and material resources allocated to them and task queues would allow continuation while the player is not online. Re-manufacturing and selling of items (crafting) worked on by the Player's ex-Splicer minions ( who beside no longer being insane may possess important skills from the ADAM they absorbed through those chaotic years ).
This MMORPG is a cooperative game, so communications with other Players to acquire/borrow/loan resources or coordinate projects falls into the mail/chat/posting/trade paradigms we already see in many MMORPGs). As seen on many other games, an 'Auction House' mechanism can be used to streamline resource transfers (many goods/items delivered by that wondrous Pneumo-Mail Jet Postal system ( which the players will get working again ) ...
The RTS aspect of the game would motivate/drive some quests in the FPS part of the game to get ahold of things needed for the 'work' of bringing Rapture back to life (repairs and building). The player will likely have to hunt for critical components in the still-wrecked/wild areas of Rapture, will have to fight off the wild Splicers still inhabiting them, and may have to join their NPC workers to search out and recover those needed resources.
Puzzle Mini Games fit in with the limited/simpler tablet/palmtop interfaces (think -- wiring/ piping/ mechanical assembly/ therapy for your raw Splicer in the Tenenbaum Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic/ Lockpicking/ U-Make-It scrounging/Crafting ). There are lots of possibilities for such puzzles, who's results feed in to the main game.
--- --- --- --- ---
==A Plethora of Additional Ideas==
Another 'player created' asset item type to add :
13) Quests - can be as simple as a new fabrication/repair formula for a piece of useful machinery (U-Make-It) or repair/maintenance mission for some new Terrain situational assembly/installation (lots of maintenance Quests in leaky Rapture). (( EXAMPLE - a leaking window with nice spurting effects and a large puddle, that requires welding repair )) Many Quests follow formulas with simple fill in the blanks ( destinations/NPCs involved/NPC dialogues/hints/fetch items/etc ) and most of the life of them is the Quest text with story/mini-plot/interesting descriptions/motives.
7b) A behavior AI scripting system for the players own controlled 'Team' NPCs (scripts shareable to other players - Applicable to game run NPCs also). They are not 'cheats', but 'instructions' that would keep the Players ex-Splicer/BigDaddies and other agents working while the Player is offline ( and moving about the city on tasks that would make the city actually LOOK like a city with people in it doing things instead of the talking mannequin NPCs alot of MMORPGs are limited to ). Player use -- applying these NPC 'AI' scripts is more like setting parameters ( really are plug-ins then with config settings ) and picking missions/tasks -- not really 'programming' (they implement flexible if-then logic for decisions, as well as pre-canned condition tests built into the 'Team' mission/task templates.
If I didn't mention it before, the Player review/vetting of all these new Assets is only the first phase -- As the company would then do its own vetting/validation before actually adding them to a running game world.
* Most of these things are built on/recombined from Sandboxed 'sub-routine' Templates the company would supply,
* They would NOT allow Cheating or Griefing - only access to the same info and actions a player would have.
* Any 'problem' script content would first be found by the player inspectors/testers who are rewarded for finding errors/dysfunctions (in game rewards, not monetarily).
* People who submit intentionally problematic items are afterwards restricted and not allowed to progress onto more complicated/challenging assets.
* A Creator Ramp (leveling) progresses to larger assemblies (complex scenes) made of many small assets -- props/terrain/NPCs/thematic decorations interlinked by scripts/quests/placement rules.
--- --- ---
REUSEABILITY :
Another aspect for the development effort required to implement the 'player created asset' MMORPG game model --- The Server/Client mechanisms and tools can be REUSED for creating other similar MMORPG games ( something like half the work would be reapplyable to a second/third/etc game of a similar type ).
... Example - a X-COM MMORPG game .
Again, an important factor is the production savings ($$$) by using the player created game Assets/content ( which IS one of the MAJOR expenses in these MMORPG games ), and making possible MMORPG games in niche genres that companies wont touch right now as financially nonviable.
SO much the better if the company already has a seed set of Assets from an existing solo game to start the core/pre-built areas of the map (like BioShock with 2 games and a bunch of DLC materials).
--- --- ---
Normal People Again ... :
Remembering the selection of Player Avatars from the BS2 MP game ? -- They look normal -- were from before the heavy splicing became common in Rapture. With the MMORPG's 'Cure' for the negative aspects of the ADAM addiction, we would have NPCs once again no longer looking like malignant mutants.
The 'Cure' of anti-Adam might be again right there in the Sea-Slugs, who don't turn cancerous/behaviorally irregular even though they are full of ADAM. Tenenbaum's solution would mean restoring people back to a more normal state or at least suppressing the negative ones - We still want Plasmids for the Glossary#FPS part of this game, though many of the technical ones have greater use in the repair/rebuild/restore overplot.
Part of the game I would like to see is having the ability to crawl up the walls (maybe not the Player ??) Think of how useful to repairs that would be, or to counter 'wild' Splicers in the unreclaimed parts of the City. That would be that 'Cures' wouldn't have to destroy Plasmid abilities, and there might actually be a reason to safely (via anti-Adam) 'enhance' Players/NPCs with NEW abilities /skills /physicals /intellectuals as was the original vision for ADAM. On the other hand, Players might only have normal abilities but more tools to use.
--- --- ---
Cityscape :
The external part of the City can be part of the MMORPG. Work outside to patch parts of the City and make them water proof again. Gather raw materials to make certain things (Ryan planned to have Rapture 'self sufficient'. So there is a lot of industrial stuff laying about somewhere in Rapture, as well as basics like 'Fishing'.
There would be areas quite a distance from Rapture city center - mining or oil drilling and outlying industrial/manufacturing or greenhouses in tunnel complexes that are all candidates for player interactions. The Player could use a Big Daddy Suit Skill for external work and/or Submarines and or Bathyspheres. The terrain outside need not be that complicated to create, with existing tools like Bryce capable of creating appropriate landscapes for huge areas of the outside ocean floor.
There are wrecked parts of the City which probably never will be restored, but become hunting grounds for salvageable/useable parts and resources (like for large sections of the special Ryanium 'glass' to replace sections blown up by certain people previously, or cracked by sinking airplanes.)
--- --- ---
Inner Terrain :
Besides the outside Ocean (and all the fun sea life to fight), there are parts of Rapture we really didn't see that much of --- utility ways to access all kinds of machinery and utility lines :
1) Sewers and their extended facilities, including lots of sumps
2) Fresh water pipes
3) Electric power lines
4) Air circulation conduits/ducting
5) Heating systems from the geothermal core (hot water)
6) Telephone/ Cable TV/ Pneumo Mail
7) Cooling water for machinery (seawater)
8) Transport tunnels to move garbage/goods/maintenance personnel
9) Fire suppression systems
10) Security systems
All these things in many places have been broken, damaged, disconnected, are submerged, sabotaged/vandalized. The Player would want to restore them bit by bit in his claimed 'project' part of the city, joining up with the restoration efforts of others Key junctions/connections cooperatively restored to bring the City back into existence.
Major transport systems like the Trolleys and Atlantic Express would be large team efforts (a source of many many sub Quests to rebuilt these large systems section by section)
Vertical transports like elevators and stairwells would also be things to get working again (and give access to new places and adventures).
--- --- ---
Why Bioshock Rapture Would Make a Good Candidate For a Player Created Content MMORPG :
* Sufficient Userbase familiar with the story/world.
* Themes are based on Ordinary/known life/people : 
** Generic 1950's era people/society as a Basis, 30s/40s architecture
** Real materials/objects as a source. No need to imaginize whole new world (fewer dissonant details - easier to create specifications)
** Players are 'ordinary' people ( a known quantity to keep the Fantasy Superhero stuff in check ).   You can still pretend to have that WTF element from the first game.
* Not much existing Canon for that OTHER part of Rapture ( when some 'worlds' have to operate within quite fixed themes, which Player may not easily add new things into ).   Huge sets of details about the City were missing or barely mentioned or vague.
* Alot of game resources already existing - Creators can do alot of recombination
* Fictional Odd technologies/etc.. already largely spelled out
* Closed off areas (walls) compartmentalizing the Map (visible interiors are generally not too large).  Too many detailed objects in one place can overwhelm rendering capacities ( similar issue for AI/behavior processing ).
* Large Under-defined World, so can continue adding maps space (down as well as out - much more of the city was visible than was ever visited).   Seeds from 'only-mentioned' things for some  continuity ( ready to be elaborated upon ).   Outside views were often repeated/reused so it is justified to mot match them in significant ways ( though attempts to replicate when possible ).
* A 'Before-time' history story situation which can be offered as Flashbacks ( with Players being  sufficiently interested in creating such ).   BaS only showed a small part of Rapture 'as it had been'.
* Multiple settings opportunities - the 'World' can extend beyond Rapture itself - the Ocean and even things on the Surface  -- Rapture doesn't exist in a vacuum ( so a Pentagon Briefing room where a meeting is discussing weird shit happening off the Coast of Iceland can be presented. )
--- --- ---
Unique Names For Player (Avatar) Characters :
* Players get only ONE character per server ( your gofers will have to be your 'Team' NPCs )
* Name should be unique to simplify identification ( Player looking up name they see in City records etc ... )
* Usual 'Vetting' of proper applicable names/verbiage - no Dood-Speak rubbish or names from other games ( unless they are very generic in Real Life ) - Improper names will be eliminated and replaced by generics ( Players can retain defaults autonaming on Player creation ).
* NPCs would likewise have unique names.
--- --- --- --- ---
.
.