3. CHARACTER

Will you have character aging?

This is optional. There would be a box (hidden deep in the character screen with a confirmation box and perhaps one additional confirmation box) that one could check saying "Aging ON". If it is checked, the character will slowly grow older (and fatter if they are primarily a non-combatant). Their hair will go white, and eventually, they will be very stooped and old. This is all in appearance only. They will be just as quick, bright eyed, deadly and strong as all other characters - this is only a graphics thing. The most difference a player may note is that they become shorter over time. Excessively old characters may get really short and wander around clutching their backs, etc (better than the EQ troll animation of constantly scratching their buttox). To get your character into the excessively old category would require having your character logged in 24/7 for one solid year. Hence, to see people like this it will take a minimum of one year with more of them running around after 2 years. The affects of aging would be irreversible (unless magics were developed or appropriate technology discovered) though they could be stopped by un-checking the 'Aging ON' box at any time. Hence, if a player thought his character looked pretty cool with some silver streaks in his hair, he could check the box and freeze his characters age there. [Note: If this would consume too many resources, you could always have it be one of three ages - young (starting), middle aged and old. You don't have to go overboard unless you have the graphics artists to throw at it...]

I want to customize my character as much as possible.

I'd try to have a lot of faces and a lot of bodies (anorexic through obese) but the characters would all start out as 15-20 year olds. Old folk would be something unusual to see after the game had been out a year or two and would likely be the 'badasses' in the community. If you see a short, cripply, toad-like old man limping toward you with a sword RUN.

How many characters will I be able to have?

Five per server. If I get one world server, 5 per account. We at Evil Enterprises place no limits on the number of accounts you may buy.

Will there be different classes of characters?

No classes, just specializations. The specializations would be dependent upon what a character studied and used.

At the highest level, if the person was attempting to heal themselves and they were not of a class that could use magic/mindforce/etc to heal themselves, what is their maximum downtime from 1hp to full health (assuming they don't use uber items)?

I want to max downtime from 30 sec to one minute - that's the range I am shooting for. If it is less than that, even better. I don't see the need to make characters sit to heal or meditate. Standing still should be enough.

Will I be able to put a biography on my character for when people look at me?

Oh hell no. That's some goofy stuff there. You won't be able to 'inspect' other players. You won't be able to read up on them in their little 'bio box'. If you are lucky, we will make a 'sandwich board' sign for you to hang around your neck if you want. Gear should look different enough that you can tell what it is. If you want to be known as 'phat' and 'uber' we suggest building a huge cool building instead - or make a dungeon (see below).

What about titles? How can I earn those?

Don't know if it would be possible to do, but I'd like to have the computer track certain activities of the player. If the player covers a certain amount of distance, the title 'The Explorer' would be added after their name. If a character dies more than 20 times in a real life month 'The Unlucky' gets added after their name (watch out when grouping with these people). If the character kills more than 200 goblins during a real life month 'Goblinbane' gets added, etc. Certain titles could be overridden more easily than others. If you got the title 'The Unlucky' you might want to go slaughter goblins for awhile.

Are Names Unique?

No. You can call yourself anything you want. You might be known as that to other people - you might not. Every character will have a unique character number that the players will never see.

What about last names?

See above.

What about 'name theft'?

See above.

How do names work?

The players assign other players names. Only the player who assigned the name can see it. They could have the option of seeing the name hovering over the head of the person or not, depending on their settings. In other words, you would be able to go up to someone and say "Hello - my name is Sam." They would have the option of either assigning you the name 'Sam' or whatever they felt like. This would allow you to assign names to people like 'Useless', 'Killstealer', 'Beggar', 'Assignstupidpoints', etc. How I would do it on the server side (unseen by the players): Each character created would get a unique number that the players cannot ever see. The first character ever created might get a number like 0000001A. The second character created from a different account might get 0000002A. If the person from the second account then created another character, that character number would be 0000002B. That would allow me to keep track of all of the characters on an account. If a character wanted to /ignore someone, the program would then be able to filter tells by the account and not just by the specific character. That would keep players from being able to grief one another by simply creating new characters for it. To be able to give someone a 'tell', you'd have had to target them once to create a 'reference' for them (ala AO). This will save the number (encrypted) to a reference folder. If someone wanted to give that character a tell, they could click the reference (through hotkey or something). [If I could figure out a way to keep track of the characters names with what they have been named by another character, I'd just do that instead. It is much more convient to type "/tell Useless YOU STINK" than to click a reference you created. Perhaps in the player folder there could be a string 'Useless=BobbyK'. If the player tried to assign another character the name of 'Useless', we could always have a popup box come up that says 'Useless is already taken - assign target Useless2? This would also negate the entire problem of people naming themselves things like r0<><0rU. You could just put him down as 'Rockey' or 'dood175'.

What are the attributes?

Strength: How much force you hit with, how much weight you can carry.

Dexterity: How fast you hit, how accurately you hit.

Constitution: How much damage you can take, how much stamina you have.

Essence: How much mana you have.

(Stuff like that - exact stats will be hammered out when the game skills are made)

Can my attributes go up?

No. You will keep the same attributes throughout your life. One can max at 100%, one at 80%, one at 60% and the last at 40%. Various skills can influence these things - the attributes are merely the base abilities. For example - certain skills learned can cause a character to hit harder, quicker, avoid more damage or be able to cast more spells. Certain gear may cause the base attributes to be used in a more or less efficient way. When assigning stat points, this would force characters to have very real trade offs. We'd want to make stats matter.

What gear will I start off with?

You start with an axe, a shovel and a backpack. That's it, unless you have started in a PC run city that gives a 'newbie pack'. Unlike in other games, you are free to sell this stuff. It isn't worth much - what newbie stuff is? And you'll probably regret selling it later. This stuff decays, etc just like normal gear. Good luck.