Some aspects I would love to see in EM8ER:

[Partha]

A) An open world market, but with items that have a listing price value that takes into account the minimum cost of the item's cumulative components. I play/test a lot of mmo's that can't seem the grasp the simple business concept that your final product must cover the cost of the materials used to make it. If people choose to sell it for less than its value, or for five times its production cost is up to them. Competitive marketing...

B) An auto log out and/or AFK system. Nothing frustrates a player base more than a server overloaded with AFK wankers and their vehicles littering the play areas causing lags and DCs for others. Or worse, 'campers' who just sit AFK at a spot to grab something before anyone else can or camp spawns that other people need (not to mention PvP/PK passer bys, but EM8ER won't have that issue).

C) Purely cosmetic and fun, but it is possible to have a house/garage system where you park your bikes and put up your trophies? LOTRO has this and you can decorate and even add theme music with store/shop purchases. That would be cool because that would 1. bring people to party/gather in non-public areas and 2. likewise lessen the server load/lagg in high traffic areas (I find this to be an issue in starter/spawn zones in many mmo's my team tests).

D) Have more than just quests, combat and kills to gain experience and renown. You know what I loved the most about my favourite mmo's? That my character was MORE than just a killing machine. In some well made games, I have characters that are known server wide as master smiths, making unique, high grade and signature/named gear. In other games I am like an Archaeologist/adventurer, I tomb raid and find lost items to uncover mysteries and reveal specific lore like a detective. In some other games still, I am an explorer, I seek the highest cliffs, the deepest valleys, the hidden places and get renown and banner titles for finding places that no one goes to.

 

[Wyntyr]

A. Possibly
B. Not a bad feature
C. Possibly
D. craftin and killin are about it...no quests or xp (at least at launch; what could happen post launch...who knows)

 

[Omnires]

A) I've been trying to get that idea to part of MMOs for a long time. It should not have to fall on the player base to make up and run an whole economy by themselves. Especially when no one has any really sense of the value of things and so super easy to miss price them, be it by accident or on purpose. But having baseline values for things would go a long way in having a healthy player run economy because everyone would have more or less the same idea of the value of an item and so know when they are getting a deal or being ripped off.

The way I seen some games also add to this is the idea of artisanship. Because in those things they higher your character's stats/level/rank in something like crafting or smiting they are able to add extra buffs and things to stuff they make, as well as adding the character's name to the item as one who made it. Going by how much control they have over the buffs they can add to things it allows for people to stand out on their own with a brand gear to different types of players. And sure Em-8er don't having levels and stuff because are going to be using things like 3D printers. But you can still program a printer right? So much much control would have over what to tell the printer to make? Like could I tell it to make a sniper rifle with a slower fire rate and magazine than normal to bump up the accuracy, precision, and damage more? Could I tell it add in a battery inside the handle of a sword with electrodes linking to the blade so I can shock enemies while I'm cutting them?

B) the problem if campers is always going to exist for as long as devs always make rare things only spawn in one or two small areas that players need to fight over to get it. Oddly enough in games where everyone shares loot that is picked up, as in for as long as one person in the team get it everyone else in the team get a copy of it too, and in games where unless you set yourself to be in a solo instance everyone in the same area is viewed as random team in the game. Campers are not really minded that much because everyone in the are is getting the same loot no matter what. Campers still exist in those games, but there is less of a reason for people to do so for some kind of advantage. Although if you are afk for more than 5-10 mins you auto logged off.

C) This would go nicely with the idea of artisanship I talked about in point A when it comes to player run shops and the like. It is no secret that I'm an old gamer. And I still remember in the early days of MMOs when tradesmen guilds made sure the economy was balanced because all the top guilds and crafters all agreed to set baseline prices for everything in the game, including labor, and if anyone wanted to sell anything in the game they had to compete against the prices they set for things which always fair. Now the way the different guilds would fight against each other was in the services they give and price points for them. For example, I use to run mercenary guild and we had 2 payment styles for people who asked for our help. Pay by the job or pay by the hour. Pay by the job was for more like boss hunting or helping someone clear a quest. Pay by the hour was more for farming runs, like protect these person or team of players while they mine for rare metals inside of a dungeon with a high spawn rate to keep the rooms where rocks spawn free of enemies while they mine. Having a guild hall where players knew where to find us and post job listings was key to why was one of the top combat focused guilds.

D) I too also enjoy games that give me the freedom to do those things and reward me for it. Even if it is nothing more than given my a title that is shown over my head so people know I did this thing. Although in some games I'm known as kind of sage. You know that one really high player who just some times seats around in a newbie town talking to people giving them tips on how to play the game or telling them about the deeper meaning of the game's lore. In one game there was some people who thought I was some kind of special NPC because of the tips I give people and if a new player kept dying to much I would just randomly help them by casting heals and buffs on them until they learn how to fight. lol