In addition, I might add, what resources would be saved by removing debris from a scene? Isn’t that debris (if we focus on the larger items) already there?

What difference would it make to an MMO’s servers if they has to calculate 10,000 parked cars on the city streets, or 9,900 parked cars and 100 burned out car bodies? Sure, the doors and tires and such might be an issue, but make those CLIENT SIDE items, their presence makes no matter to the world, they arent obsticles, merely their general trajectories and final resting place, the rest can be client based. The car remains the only large item the server needs to track, and in this case, replac e with a burned-out-car model/skin.

Look to City of Villians for an example of this. One class can produce various debris and throw it at a target. When playing with others, the item itself is different on all clients! The location is the same, but one might see a sink, another a 55-gallon drum.

I also disagree to the storyline point.

Several MMOs, AoC, SWG, and WoW included, have character storylines you can play out.

What they fail to do, generally, is have your actions result in the removal of someone/thing from the world, or change it.

While its simply a matter of having each toon hear different words (with the same general impact) or see a different skin on an NPC in the same locaiton/role, they rarely do the same things.

Burning out a building in an MMO would be just as easily delt with as opening up a new building on a “nearly finished” construction site elsewhere.

Hell, EVE has had player interaction change the very nature of the safety of zones, why can’t a crime MMO?

While I *can* find ways to refute much of this, the core of my argument remains solidly set in the amount of effort any Crime MMO team puts in, and how much they are willing to pragmatically learn from the landscape of the industry arround them. Games like AoC for it’s “twitch”, EVE for it’s security/threat response and openness, and WoW for its global appeal are currently standing out as shining examples of what does (and doesn’t) work.

But I’ve yet to see a development team able to take that step to look at these things and apply them.

here the link

http://www.apb.com
and
http://www.notoriouscriminals.net

Section off parts of the city? What for? There are things called instances.

You can build a greatly complex and satisfying crime MMORPG:

You start as newby criminal mind with no criminal skills to speak of, but you have a ‘civil’ profession – stunt driver, mechanic, ex-military, karate instructor, hacker, medic, chemist, … You lso had some hobbies in your childhood: amareur rocketeering, model cars, swimming, scuba diving, running, … All of this determines you starting skill set : what items you cna use, how fast and far can you run, how accurate you can shoot, can you drive a truck, …

When you decide to start you criminal life you can start with petty crime or go to seek work at established crime gangs (NPCs). You can form a social hang out club (guild) with other members of your gang. You can form up into teams for crimes.

You gang will have a lot of work for you – a typical assortment of quests: fedex, fedex under fire, escort, assasination, slaughter, terror, … Depending on circumstance other gangs, bystanders and cops could get involved in the quest, so a simple drive-by shooting could end with an all-out car chase after you. Like in NFS: Most Wanted. I would imagine other criminals might want to lay low a bit while the police is chasing you, but sometimes they might get away with stuff that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise, because the police force attention is on you and away from them.

The missions could also be set in instances so not to disturb other players with explosions and such. Compare Deadmines assault and the Onyxia quest chain in Stormwind.

Yes – the world will reset and people will respawn in a minute, but that is normal in MMORPG. The player moves on by then and next one can do the quest. That is not a problem – again, see WoW for a lot of great examples how to do stuff. The fights are rapid and action is fast, but there is a significant time spent in preparation and in travel between points. And that is all a MMO needs.

http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/16/mafiamatrix-rise-above-the-law-or-become-the-law/

With the somewhat recent mega-popularity of games like Grand Theft Auto, and Saint’s Row it seems like it was only an inevitability that somebody who begin to make an MMO based on these types of games. So it really came as no surprise when I foun…