15.2 Music

What genre of music will be used in the game?

I'd love to have the ability for PC's to make their own music in game, etc. For example, in Morrowind, they have bells within some of the dungeons. The bells range from fairly small to fairly large. The bells are mounted on a crossbar. By 'clicking on' each of the bells, you can produce a 'bell sound' - the sound corresponds to the size of the bell. Even though this is a fairly simple example, it shows what sort of things can be done for 'true' in game music. 'Real' minstrels can then exist, it opens up new fields for crafting, etc.

One possible feature that would empower players: In the game folder, there is a folder marked 'Music'. Within that folder are other folders labeled things like 'dramatic', 'dreamy', 'traveling', 'love', etc. If the player puts an MP3 (or shortcut to MP3) into that folder, music from there might be triggered from time to time. For example, lets say that the player engages in what the computer considers an 'epic fight' (not all fights in a MMOLG are meaningful) - the computer then says "Does the player have music in the dramatic folder? If no, go on with other routines. If yes, then randomly pick one and play it. This allows the characters to put in music (and change it whenever desired) that they think is appropriate, like and don't mind hearing. Very empowering to the players and doesn't get us in trouble with any copyright issues. [Idea shamelessly gotten from GTA3.]