This is an amusing thought that I had. I expect the game to be standalone for the most part; with no online components required but as an optional mode of play. Apologies in advance if my idea is not clear, it's rough. If this idea picks up steam, I'll edit this with refinements based on feedback... If not, then this thread will die --- Preface Start--- Starbound shouldn’t be limited to just a standalone game, but rather a standalone game that can be closely connected with the game’s community; acting like a MMO while not being one. My idea is adding a Massively Online Community Supported, or MOCS, element to Starbound. I would say the MOCS element means that the community has a direct effect on online gameplay. For example, having a web based player market for players to sell items to others, the community driving an over arcing plot. In Starbound’s case for MOCS elements, I’m envisioning a community revolving around one persistent universe and played within multiple servers/worlds; hopefully with persistent characters. I’m looking at Gaia Online as an indirect source of inspiration for this idea. Monthly, the site had an in universe event for the community to “play” with; the results affecting how the universe would go, or what would be delivered to the community. It was simple, mostly by numbers, but it gave a degree of "aliveness". Making Starbound a MOCS would also give the game a significantly longer lifetime by keeping the community more involved with the game. In many other non-MMO based games, I see a split between the game and its community. Players could roleplay in the community, but it didn’t affect a universe, clans could be formed, but aside from competition, it didn’t affect a universe; as far as it went, the game was mostly static while the community was changing. Excluding a dedicated modding community, those games typically got old quickly. Past single player and once most multiplayer content was completed/experienced, there wasn’t much reason to return to play seriously. --- Preface End --- With some idea of web technologies out there, I think it would be great if Starbound uses the main site as an online portal for players. It’ll be a place for community content to be shared, items to be bought and sold en masse, a source of story and events provided by developers to be experienced in sanctioned servers, and a way to advance as a fan of Starbound; getting trophies and forum badges by actions completed in game. I predict that this might be a boon for players who want to have multiplayer fun without cheating. See diagram below: Key: ―: Indirect influence →: Direct influence BLUE: Regular RED: MOCS A. Single player ↔ Servers What happens in single player gameplay carries over to multiplayer gameplay. This interaction is the same as Terraria. B. Single player → Sanctioned Servers From here, you create your sanctioned character,an account on the main website is required to play on sanctioned servers. Single player gameplay doesn't affect multiplayer gameplay on sanctioned servers and vice versa. Characters are not stored locally, but stored in a character server; though players can download a snapshot of their character for "regular" use at any point. The heavily online element should discourage cheating. It would be nice if anyone can easily create their own sanctioned server for solo play. C. Community → Single player From the community, custom vanity and head styles created by its members for use in-game. Content should be delivered either through Steam Workshop or a custom gallery; hopefully with options to donate pixels to creators. D. Community ↔ Sanctioned Servers This is the crux of the MOCS idea for Starbound: Corporations producing various gear, materials, and furniture of various quantities and qualities ingame and “shipping” them to a web market for other players to buy. Should end up being a player supplied “NPC” store, I would find it interesting if prices were determined by an in-universe trade agency. Official universe stories and plot lines affecting sanctioned servers; events. Feed materials to a community wide war effort (a counter on the main site!), cull seasonal murderous space bunny infestations, kill the troops of an evil empire for a group of NPCs to save the galaxy, harvest supplies to save a dying planet. Gain forum badges for doing it all! It'll create history too A formal place for tournaments to be displayed! Ranging from simple death matches to pet battles, who is the best of them all? What happens in sanctioned servers will get displayed to the community.
I think this is a really cool idea. It just sounds like a ton of work for the devs. We might be able to hope for something like this post-release though.
Don't they have something similar to the EvE online servers? or is that just A but on a bigger scale? This would be a good idea, until you try to have multiple characters (lets face it, every one had at least more than 2 terraria players).
Could you elaborate on the problems with having more than one character? I can dimly see the issues with inventory storage. Appending to the character thought... Sanctioned characters can gain for themselves a 'history' of what they've done and events that they've participated in one way or another, 'became an explorer', 'found artifact on planet xyz', 'valiantly defended planet from invaders', 'indirectly assisted heroes in defeating evil empire', etc. Creating a new character starts them later in the universe's timeline for their own 'history' to create. Wouldn't that be cool?
