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User Item Inventories

Are you in favor of items and user inventories being added to gameplay?  

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I was thinking, there have been a lot of suggestions that involve potions or treasure or BSAs way too complex to work out on site. What do you guys think of expanding the game to include items and inventories? I think that it opens up a lot of possibilities for growth for DC, and I can't even enumerate what all those possibilities would look like.

 

I'm purely asking you guys what you think. Don't factor in the workload for artists, the methods of item collection, or what you imagine Bossman might say. Just let me know what you folks think of the idea.

 

Discussion encouraged. :3

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I am in favour of this - just as I am in favour of hoarding and simmilar ideas that go well with the dragon theme. However what I don't want to see happening is that this will be compulsory to have a good game experience. DC offers complete freedom on how to play and I enjoy this incredibly - I would hate to see that freedom gone. (thus I voted option 2) Otherwise I just love this biggrin.gif

Edited by Shanthaia

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In mythology, westerns are notorious for treasure hoarding. It's even stated outright at the entrance that the dragons in the cave sleep on piles of gold.

 

If anything it makes very little sense that our dragons do not hoard things at the moment. :V

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In favour if it is just a little extra fun thing to collect, a bit like easter or halloween event all-year-round (although not with items appearing spontaneously, only after a 'search' action). I would prefer to have only 'pretties' and no useful items but I am not against a sporadic appearance of useful things, just as long as they're sporadic enough not to have a real impact on the game.

 

What is important to me is that the main focus of the game remains on the dragons and not on the items.

 

I am opposed to any tradeability, so no trading items for items, items for dragons, and certainly no introduction of currency to buy items. I feel that would have too big an impact on the game as it is now.

 

Something I would like to see: a page that displays your 'pretties' with the ability to decide which item goes where, so people can get creative with how they display their items. A bit like the decorating event, but on a blank page instead of on a tree background, and with no competition attached.

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What is important to me is that the main focus of the game remains on the dragons and not on the items.

This is my biggest concern, and the main reason I'm always against shinys/treasure/etc suggestions.

 

I love this game as it is, and I know the majority of players do as well. I wouldn't mind a "just for fun" collecting thing, like the Easter eggs... But I do *not* want this to turn into a "hunt for this potion in order to make your dragon grow faster! Grab this amulet to shave days off the breeding wait" type of thing. I don't want anything that will affect the main *dragon* game.

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I would only be in favor of it with the explore idea being implemented. I wouldn't want items if explore wasn't implemented. Like Lyth said, the hoarding makes sense and I am a bit more agreeable to this than some other things that have happened to DC. Also, what's been said before, I really want the focus on the dragons, not so much with items.

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I would be for it only if the items are not usable and are just fun decorations on your scroll. Especially if it is just RNG luck getting you these items. I think adding usable items opens a big can of worms and does have the potential to be a draw away from the dragons.

Edited by Nectaris

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I voted "yes, with conditions" so I suppose I have to explain myself now.

 

I've been in favor of Search and Hoarding since I first read the proposals here. An item inventory would pretty much be needed to go with those.

 

I do like the idea of being able to find usable items, however we find them. I'm not opposed to being able to trade them either, though I do see the possible drawbacks to that. As stated, this game really is all about the dragons, and I don't want that to change.

 

I'm not actually in favor of usable items that do what makes more sense as a BSA, or is already a BSA. So, no "Incubate" potions or "Influence" potions. However, there are some actions that we, as the dragon tenders, take that don't make sense to me as a BSA. Undoing the failed revive attempt that created the zombie dragon is an example. We screwed up the spell trying to revive a dragon after we took a big ol' sword to the poor thing. It doesn't make sense to me that we'd then have one of our other dragons try to get rid of the zombie for us.

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I'm more on the side of against this idea mostly because I'm afraid it would change DC too much. It's mainly about collecting dragons, and I'd be very sad to see it focus on some kind of currency or collection of items instead of dragons. If they were to be implemented, I would rather they be a minor thing, not a major change to DC and the way it works. I wouldn't want them to be trade-able lest they become a form of currency, but I wouldn't mind if there were perhaps randomly found items that might slightly up the chance of a breeding producing an egg from the partner you desire or reduce the time until an egg can hatch or a BSA can be used.

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i voted no. Dragons, yes, collect things, and we also collect dragons. many of us play because e want to collect all the sprites or all the lineages. but i think adding items...it would simply be a different game. its just another factor to ad to gameplay. id think that its difficult enough as is to meet our current goals, let alone add another non-event and non-limited collection. like what eruru said, if they have a benefit on the dragons themselves, then i might be a little more willing to want them, but if theyre just there to look nice, then im not too fond of this. if theyre used as currency/trades, ill be even less fond of it. wink.gif

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Currency is too drastic of a change to implement alongside items, imo. Trading of items, too, is a negative from me because, like Ruru said, in the absence of a valuable currency, a currency arises whether there's an official one or not. One example of where this actually happened is in Diablo II Battlenet. Gold was so worthless that people actually started using multiples of a specific rare ring as currency.

 

I'm all for items that can affect your dragons, however. Diligence is constantly rewarded in this game no matter how many people try to say otherwise. Those who camp the entrance for long hours are more likely to have CB rares because you can't pick up an egg you never see. Those who breed their rares frequently have more weight in trades because you never breed a rare egg if you don't breed your rares. A persistent summoner or splasher is more likely to have a GoN or magikarp badge, respectively.

 

People are already rewarded for devoting more time to this site. The theme can and will continue.

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Seems like people are against the idea of currency exchange on the site, whether that be an official currency or a traded item treated as currency. I'd like to point out that as it is now, people trade things for certain dragons, or dragons for other dragons the same way. I'm not for or against currency or objects being used as currency, but I'm curious why folk are so against it?

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Seems like people are against the idea of currency exchange on the site, whether that be an official currency or a traded item treated as currency. I'd like to point out that as it is now, people trade things for certain dragons, or dragons for other dragons the same way. I'm not for or against currency or objects being used as currency, but I'm curious why folk are so against it?

I for one am not against trading items. In fact, I much prefer it to just trusting a random number generator. I would think that it would be a good thing actually, as it would offer up the potential for gifting.

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I do hope we don't wind up going a currency route.

 

At this point, our dragons are our pets, and we sometimes trade the infant pets for others more suitable to us, but always before they grow up and become 'family'.

 

If we introduce any form of currency, it seems to me highly probable that this'd make a major psychological alteration to the whole site, in that specifically commercial transactions would be introduced, appealing to a type of player different from those enticed by 'saving baby dragons from dying' by adoption.

 

Personally, I'd SO rather not go there.

 

Something like Search would be different, although like others, I hope that the dragons remain the focus, whatever happens.

 

(Speaking as one with no life, of course! laugh.gif )

 

 

Edit: and speaking also as one who trades dragons, I have no problem with trading per se, would just prefer that no 'money' changes hands...

Edited by Syphoneira

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I'd like to point out that, right now, trading is *not* an actual part of the game. Yes, Teleport is coming, but it hasn't happened yet. Right now, there is no trading for other things, other dragons, etc, except through a loophole in the AP.

 

I do not want currency, not because of the trading aspect, but because of the economic/monetary/business aspect. DC is a dragon-raising game. Whatever else we may get (Easter-egg hunts, etc), it is and should remain a dragon-raising game. I don't want it to turn into something where you have to have a certain amount of currency to get special things, or you can only get certain dragons/objects/actions by paying in-game currency. I don't want it to turn into a business game where we *have* to pay for things, where our scroll-progression depends not on luck or fast reflexes but on paying.

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If a currency is introduced, I have the feeling we might get in trouble with people paying for the currency in real life money and this is something I would rather not have. I am on other pet sites too and it is majorly annyoing if you can't get anything nice because people who invest real currency can outpay any non-real life money investors all the time. I just like how this is not working right now in DC and your scroll does show how dedicated you are or how long you are a member already and not how much cash you invested into DC.

 

Why do I think that will be a problem and is not one now? - Dragon trading is not 100% as it is done via loophole on the AP AND timelimitation - you can trade a dragon only for a maximum of almost 14 days if you let it almost die before unfogging it. This makes investing real life money not really feesable - but with a currency, what keeps you from purchasing some with real money and using it later as you see fit to get that neglected dragon offered in trades?

 

 

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Currency selling is a major issue, yes. In any game where there is an ingame currency and it is perceived by any user to be Very Important, there will be someone ready to capitalize on that perception. This leads to increased bot activity, scamming, and more concerted attempts at stealing the accounts of the wealthy. Account theft is of particular concern, as it's often done for purposes of rapidly liquidating all your assets to sell the proceeds, and/or using a stolen reputable account as a front for funneling botted, scammed, or otherwise illegitimately obtained currency.

 

This is so common in the MMORPG world it's not even funny.

 

 

Which is why, while I love the idea of items and a personal inventory (which is why I suggested Search in the first place), I'm not happy with the idea of currency or item trading. But items themselves are not perched on the precarious slippery slope.

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Don't get me wrong, I have nothign against items - I'd love to be able to search and hoard (usless) bits of germs, gold, red cloth bits, whatever....smile.gif

The only thing I do not want to happen is in game currency, even in form of (useless) item trade. I am also in favour of the items being mainly pretty and rarely ever useful if at all - just so that it is a nice extra for people who want to do a bit more with their adult sprites. What I don't want to see is a shift in game play so strongly that it would majorly alter the character of DC.

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Not too fond of the idea, myself. DC is extremely simple and straightforward in concept; the addition of items can branch into other areas of feature development that may not be so fun. Limited edition items, items needed to summon certain dragons, ascending(?). Collect this many bones to resurrect Zombie-Fossil Dragon!

 

Alright, you can hold onto that last idea for keeps, if you want.

 

On the other hand, it may lead to nothing and items remain useless, cosmetic things as proposed. But I'm skeptical =P It's not often that something with such huge possibility for expansion is left alone. Maybe that's the kind of change others are looking for in DC.

I wouldn't care too much if items were implemented though, since it's not an overly radical idea. I'd only start setting fire to your barns if a majority of the items ended up being overdone memes or... dragon-sized clothes =o

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I love the idea of items, after all dragons are known for massive sized hords of treasure!

 

Easiest way to prevent people buying items from another is to not allow items to be traded. Easy as that.

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I would be for it only if the items are not usable and are just fun decorations on your scroll. Especially if it is just RNG luck getting you these items. I think adding usable items opens a big can of worms and does have the potential to be a draw away from the dragons.

This

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I'm going to say (carefully) that DC already has a currency system, created by users. Our currency is our dragons, and each has a value, whether high or low.

 

The richest players are those who have cb tinsels. They can trade virtually anything they want for a second gen tinsel. Wealthy players would be those who have the ability to trade things like cb metals. Of course, what do they ask for in trade for those? 2nd gen tinsels, naturally.

 

New players, or those with lousy connections, generally are pretty "poor" by DC standards. They aren't going to be able to offer much for valuable trades.

 

Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this, at all. Just saying that anytime you have stuff available to exchange, people are going to put a value on it, and it evolves into a sort of currency.

 

That is why I'm not opposed to being able to trade items. It would have the potential to even the playing field a tiny bit for those with slow connections since their chance of finding the rare stuff would be just as good as anyone else's.

 

Truthfully though, because it also would add other complications I'm not particularly in favor of trading items either. However, adding in, in any way, the ability to exchange actual real money for anything is something I'm opposed to. I don't mind a barter system, but don't want anything resembling "dc dollars" or real money.

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Well no, our dragons aren't quite a currency per se. It's more of a bartering system. There is no visible conversion rate between metals and commons, and lineage, gender and stage can raise or lower the value of a given dragon as well.

 

The concern of real life trading is not a worry that TJ will make it possible to buy it directly. It's a worry that people out there will figure out a way to bot (or more commonly, scam) the currency and then sell it to people who are too lazy to earn it legitimately themselves. For real money, to get an edge. Make no mistake, TJ won't be seeing a penny of that money, either. It happens with literally every game in existence with a tradeable currency.

Edited by Lythiaren

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This came up some years back, I think... my opinion has changed a little since then (after all, these days there are new releases all the time; back then, not so much). I think to me having items and hoards of items should be like user descriptions; whether or not you participate does not affect your dragons, but it can be a fun thing to do just for the heck of it. I get into user descriptions, that's my big thing that keeps bringing me back, even though I actually spend far more time breeding and trading than I do writing. Some people get even more into it, like Mathcat and Dr. Paine; I think that's just awesome, and people love what they write, but not everyone wants to or can write descriptions, and that's fine, too. Then you have the people who love breeding projects, but breeding isn't required to play... neither is cave hunting, since there is an AP and ways to trade. Some people never trade, either.

 

I think the best part about this game (other than how long it has gone and how popular it has stayed despite anti-money rules and random coding problems), is that there are so many ways to play and so many different reasons people stick with it. Plenty of people come and go, but those who stay are a diverse crowd. I think that if items and actual dragon hoards were put into the game, it would be another one of those things that some people do, some people don't, some people don't but still like to watch grow, and just... it's fun. It's a new and still completely optional dimension to the game.

 

To echo what a few others have said, I don't support items if they do anything. BSAs can get tricky enough, and I have this feeling that if item ratios would be adjusted to offset their popularity, it wouldn't be for like a year after release. There is a point where you start making the game too complex for the coder, not to mention upsetting for the players. BSAs are bad enough for those people who sincerely dislike a particular breed's sprite but feel that they have to collect huge armies of it anyway just to keep up, even at the expense of their personal scroll goals. I would only support this as something that is completely meaningless in terms of actual gameplay. Buy, sell, and trade items for each other and for dragons all you like, if you want to-- but it should be like trading a spirtfire for an orchedrake, you do it only because you want to, not because you need it just to keep up.

 

Not sure how this fits into the original topic, but I extremely against using an in-game currency (bartering, as we do currently, is perfectly fine), and even more against the introduction-- ever-- of RL money use. Buy the merchandise if you love it, donate if you love it, commission fanart if you love it, but don't ever introduce RL money into the game itself. I sincerely believe that that would be a mistake.

Edited by ArynChris

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