Mirror Universe?
Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:10 pm
Okay - this comes from my other thread about removing artificially produced AT from the game. It is clear from teh poll in that thread ( http://herebegames.com/StarGateWars/vie ... p?p=646037 ) that the community is split, right down the middle!
So - an alternative suggestion - that could solve all of the problems:
What if a Parallel Universe was created - this would essentially be a mirror of Main, but with a few tweaks. All things that are in Main would remain, except:
- The market would be a player derived market where the players dictate the prices and what they sell (including AT).
- No artificial production of AT in the Mirror Universe (sounds like Star Trek!). I have no problem with artifical production of naquadah and even UU - these are physical entities, and so can be produced by the market (within sensible limits) - but an AT is a non-physical commodity, which I take to represent the capability of an army to participate in battle; and to be able to take part in battle you need to prepare and bide your time. How can you purchase readiness?
Ascension would remain as is - with the same Ascension server for both sides of the mirror.
The snag is - you can only have an account in one of these Universes - you can exist in Main, or the Mirror Universe, but not both.
The way I envisage it - once setup, everyone currently in the game at the time has the option to transfer to the Mirror Universe if they wish (this option will ony be open for a limited time) - once they do, their account is moved across, with a few tweaks - I don't want people carrying 10s of thousands of AT across there - so when you move across, you start with 1000 AT - for everyone. The rest of your account is transferred as is (but maybe not planets - might have to have a think about that......). Naturally, you will not drag your officers with you, and you will not belong to an alliance - because initially there will not be any!
Once you move to the Mirror Universe for the first time (!), you are committed to stay there for a minimum period (2 weeks, a month?). Once this predetermined period is up, you are given the chance to transfer back to Main for free - with similar limitations imposed. The idea of this is to give you a chance to see if you like it - if you don't, you get to go back.
You will note I said 'for the first time' - what I am proposing is that it is possible to traverse the divide between the two mirror universes - but it should not be easy! You would have to reach a certain level in something - maybe in G&R? Or maybe a new points system, based on experience and knowledge (just pulling ideas out of a hat) - it could even be that you get Experience Points (XP) and something else (Acknowledgement Points (AP)?) which is awarded to you for certain actions - or by other players (you would only be able to award points to a single player once), and it is a combination of these 2 that allow you to cross the void so, to speak.... I really don't know - I'm thinking way out the box right now (probably due to the fact I'm falling asleep here) - but what I believe I am trying to say is that your ability to do this should not be solely dictated by your strength, power, ability to raid/mass, your alliance, or even how many friends you have - but other players would be able to award points to players for certain things (still thinking about that). To make it fair - players in the same alliance cannot give points to each other - and you can only award a certain number of points per week, and not more than one to the same player. Once you award a point to someone, you cannot give them another (until they have crossed the void AND come back).
Also - both games, although connected would be blind to each other - and it would not be possible to create an account in the Mirror Universe - you must traverse the void to get there.
I am willing to come up with anything that will help people decide to stick with SGW, because as it is, a lot of people are leaving / thinking of leaving because of the way the game has gone in recent months. A lot of those people have played the game for a long time and are among the most well known in thw community. That must tell you something?
The reason I have suggested something like this is because - according to the poll - it seems to be split almost down the middle (currently YES = 23 votes, No = 21 votes), which would indicate to me that opinion on this matter is split right down the middle and half of the community are unhappy about it.
Please take time to consider if this is a good idea - whether you would choose to cross the void or not. Also, feel free to comment on teh suggestion and suggest modifications (it was very late when I thought of it last night - and I did ramble on a bit in places!
).
But please, constructive criticsm only - I don't mind disagreements as long as you can back them up with something.
So - an alternative suggestion - that could solve all of the problems:
What if a Parallel Universe was created - this would essentially be a mirror of Main, but with a few tweaks. All things that are in Main would remain, except:
- The market would be a player derived market where the players dictate the prices and what they sell (including AT).
- No artificial production of AT in the Mirror Universe (sounds like Star Trek!). I have no problem with artifical production of naquadah and even UU - these are physical entities, and so can be produced by the market (within sensible limits) - but an AT is a non-physical commodity, which I take to represent the capability of an army to participate in battle; and to be able to take part in battle you need to prepare and bide your time. How can you purchase readiness?
Ascension would remain as is - with the same Ascension server for both sides of the mirror.
The snag is - you can only have an account in one of these Universes - you can exist in Main, or the Mirror Universe, but not both.
The way I envisage it - once setup, everyone currently in the game at the time has the option to transfer to the Mirror Universe if they wish (this option will ony be open for a limited time) - once they do, their account is moved across, with a few tweaks - I don't want people carrying 10s of thousands of AT across there - so when you move across, you start with 1000 AT - for everyone. The rest of your account is transferred as is (but maybe not planets - might have to have a think about that......). Naturally, you will not drag your officers with you, and you will not belong to an alliance - because initially there will not be any!
Once you move to the Mirror Universe for the first time (!), you are committed to stay there for a minimum period (2 weeks, a month?). Once this predetermined period is up, you are given the chance to transfer back to Main for free - with similar limitations imposed. The idea of this is to give you a chance to see if you like it - if you don't, you get to go back.
You will note I said 'for the first time' - what I am proposing is that it is possible to traverse the divide between the two mirror universes - but it should not be easy! You would have to reach a certain level in something - maybe in G&R? Or maybe a new points system, based on experience and knowledge (just pulling ideas out of a hat) - it could even be that you get Experience Points (XP) and something else (Acknowledgement Points (AP)?) which is awarded to you for certain actions - or by other players (you would only be able to award points to a single player once), and it is a combination of these 2 that allow you to cross the void so, to speak.... I really don't know - I'm thinking way out the box right now (probably due to the fact I'm falling asleep here) - but what I believe I am trying to say is that your ability to do this should not be solely dictated by your strength, power, ability to raid/mass, your alliance, or even how many friends you have - but other players would be able to award points to players for certain things (still thinking about that). To make it fair - players in the same alliance cannot give points to each other - and you can only award a certain number of points per week, and not more than one to the same player. Once you award a point to someone, you cannot give them another (until they have crossed the void AND come back).
Also - both games, although connected would be blind to each other - and it would not be possible to create an account in the Mirror Universe - you must traverse the void to get there.
I am willing to come up with anything that will help people decide to stick with SGW, because as it is, a lot of people are leaving / thinking of leaving because of the way the game has gone in recent months. A lot of those people have played the game for a long time and are among the most well known in thw community. That must tell you something?
The reason I have suggested something like this is because - according to the poll - it seems to be split almost down the middle (currently YES = 23 votes, No = 21 votes), which would indicate to me that opinion on this matter is split right down the middle and half of the community are unhappy about it.
Please take time to consider if this is a good idea - whether you would choose to cross the void or not. Also, feel free to comment on teh suggestion and suggest modifications (it was very late when I thought of it last night - and I did ramble on a bit in places!
).
But please, constructive criticsm only - I don't mind disagreements as long as you can back them up with something.