Guild Wars 2

This question is directed at the devs in particular.

It seems that player impact on the world is a major theme and selling point of GW2. Right now this mainly takes shape through dynamic events and such, but ANet has promised live events and such that will help move the plot of the game forward in the future.

What I’m wondering is to what extent players will be able to influence the direction the lore and game world develops. I’m not asking for any promises, but if a group of players dedicated to a cause tries hard enough, is there a chance that the writers will take notice and nudge the direction that the world takes in one way or another as a result?

As an aside, I’ve been playing MMOs for well over a decade now and the dev team that I have the most respect for is Ultima Online’s. The reason for this is very simple. That game had no races or classes, but a group of players decided that they wanted to think outside the box. They decided to be orcs. So they made their skin as yellow/green as possible, put on orc armor and took over a random NPC orc fort out in the wilderness. This group of players became the guild Shadowclan, and they basically lived in that fort. They acted as orcs, extracting tribute from players that wandered into their territory etc.

Eventually, the guild grew to the point where the UO team took notice. One of the devs showed up in game and warned that the NPC orcs wanted their fort back. They spawned a massive number of NPC orcs and the ensuing battle lasted for quite a while. I wasn’t there, so I only know the details second hand. At some point Shadowclan was declared victorious and the devs actually changed the game world to reflect this. A treaty was nailed to the table in the fort ceding it to the Shadowclan, banners were placed on the outside of the fort walls and signposts warning travelers of the nearby danger were added to the road that ran close to the fort. The change to the world was subtle, but it just blows me away that a dev team would take notice of such a group of players and actually involve them in the evolution of the game world in this way.

So what say you GW2 devs? Are you looking for groups of players that are trying to make a mark on the game world? Are you open to collaborating with us? Again, I’m not looking for any guarantees but I’d love to hear your general stance on this type of thing.

I played Ultima Online and as a fellow lover of that game I can only say…wow! That was amazing! I wasn’t aware of that kind of commitment from the Devs!

In GW1 on the Factions expansion guild alliances could “control” outposts by participating in battles and accumulating points. This was reflected in the map (“outpost controlled by…”) I think the vendor had cheaper stuff and the guild had “free access” to a dungeon while other had to purchase a scroll (though it was cheap anyway). The outpost did had the guild’s banner.

(this is from memory)

Cancer — yes, I think that’s correct. GW2 already has mechanics like this to a degree in that guilds can capture forts in WvWvW (I think).

What I’m more curious about is whether the devs might respond to player involvement in the world outside of specific mechanics that are already programmed into the game. The thing that made the Shadowclan experience in UO so unique is that there was no mechanic in the game for a guild taking over an area of the game that was normally controlled by NPCs. The Devs simply saw what was happening and said "wow, this is cool what those players are doing — lets make it “official” as part of the game world".

I’m interested to know if GW2 Devs are looking for those kinds of opportunities and/or would collaborate with the community in an open ended way. This might involve modifications to how the storyline develops or modifications to the game world itself… or even something else entirely.

ArenaNet have picked up player initiatives in the past, and supported them or built tributes to them into the game (there are a bunch of NPCs based on prominent fans in GW1). I don’t know if they have any interest in taking player ideas into account when it comes to shaping the overall story or lore… but who knows? I wouldn’t rule it out!

Well, there are a bunch of camps in Tyria, like the Centaur camps etc. One could try and gather many people to “dominate” that camp and see if ANet would notice it!

I know for a fact that in GW1 there was a group of people that came together on a specific day and had a Mursaat Awareness Day, or something of the sort, where they were basically trying to point out the reasons that the mursaat were not entirely evil. ArenaNet caught wind of this event and decided to have a little fun. The players were surprised to suddenly see a group of mursaat enter the town and massacre everyone within. Just a fun article I read once upon a time.

Hah, that’s awesome Narcemus.

Chackan – I’ll admit that I do have some specific ideas in mind but they aren’t the same sort of “claim ownership over an area” thing. I’m really busy with RL stuff at the moment but in a few weeks when I have more time I’m hoping to detail my plans in earnest and start recruiting.

Narcemus – LOL that’s amazing! I think I heard something about that!

swarmofseals – Well, I’m usually busy in RL matters but if you want to you can PM me or add me in-game! I all into contribute!

@swarmofseals I’m a DJ for Black Star Radio so I might be able to help promote events from time to time. The best way to reach me is either here via private message OR in game.

Cool, good to know!