This is the third part in a weekly series of open threads to brainstorm on problems that will potentially face the Vendetta community when the final game is released.

This week's subject is The Long Term.

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Let me make something clear from the start. This is to discuss the ravaging, crude hordes that populate the internet in general, and who will storm our proverbial gates the day the game is opened, looking to make our pretty little universe just like the rest of the MMORPG world. By this I mean out-of-character, clique-heavy and ridden with cruel and criminal behavior. This isn't about any one person or group. This isn't even about our community. If you think our community is Bad (tm), you haven't seen Bad(tm) yet. This thread is about creating a list of potential problems, so that they may be fixed at an early point in the code, and not patched haphazardly at the last minute. Let me reiterate: This is not a discussion about us, or our community. This is not to become a flamewar, so let's get it out: DO NOT use players from our community, current or former, as examples. EVER. Don't dance around names, dropping hints either. You're not fooling anyone. This doesn't mean you can't reference the game universe at any point in it's development, just don't name names, or even infer them. Just don't do it, and we'll stay on target. If someone does, myself included, just ignore the post. Don't respond to it. If they really want it said, they'll find a way to say it that's acceptable in the context of this Brainstorm.

Oh, and one more thing: Stay on topic. This isn't about technical issues, or exploits or anything else. Those will be addressed in future Brainstorms. If you have a C.H.U.D. in the archives (as I do), put him on a leash and make him behave for this thread, at least.
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Opening Statement:

Every game has an entertainment lifespan. Whether it be twenty four hours like Daikatana, or twenty-four years like Pac-Man. A game can only survive for so long on its own built-up steam, and at a certain point, mainstream (non-hardcore) players cease to be interested. It is in the best interests of both Guild Software and the community to draw the lifetime of whatever game Vendetta evolves into out for the longest period possible. Every long-lived game has posessed a way of preserving its life beyond the initial play-through.

For Warcraft II, it was modem play.
For Quake, it was the dawn of the Internet.
For Escape Velocity and Halflife, it was the ease with which the game could be modified.
For Halo, it was the possibility of getting new places and seeing new things.
For Diablo, it was massive multiplay.
For Everquest and its ilk, it has been the concept of the world expansion pack.
For Space Invaders, it was the fact that the gameplay was simply so fun.

There will come a point when Vendetta's successor game reaches the end of its mass-market appeal. When that day comes, and come it will, faster than we ever expect, the engine and world must be ready to change. What is the best way to make this happen? What can Guild do that nobody has done before. What can we do to make such an event occur?

I think it is a bit early to be referring to Halo as a long-lived game.

more tomorrow when I get some sleep.

First, asside from Quake, Q3A mods, and RtCW I'm pretty much a noob. I've never participated in a MMORPG. So if some of this is redundant, simplistic, then I apologize.

I think the built in benefit to the current model is that it can be completely open ended in some ways as long as the server and architecture and support it. I think it's key to do this without expansion packs.

What i mean by that is that there can always be something new to discover, explore, and so on. That was one of the appeals of EV. There was SO much to just discover. And then there were threads to pursue. Of course, being a single player meant that there was an end.

Space is infinite. Can Vendetta be as well?

Add more sectors. Introduce new races (either human or advance AI). Realize new technologies.

Vendetta should stay ahead of the most advanced player mainting a certain degree of headroom through some of the above.

The players build the story, while the publisher builds the framework that story takes place in. I think one of the biggest things will be to insure that the framework isn't compromised through cheats/exploits.

I agree with the principle of what was said, but in reality, it is violated many times. If you can be the ONLY one of something, you'll be novel forever. As of now, vendetta will be competing with SWG for most of it's audience. So, Vendetta needs to be more action based than SWG is. Think "successor to XWA" and you've got the right Idea.

What about making a plot point after, say, six months of universe changing where a player at the end of a mission is given the choice to join a "different group"? Thus, new players for the Alien race are drafted. They then begin a more difficult life fighting for their survival against more difficult Alien bots, and eventually it becomes clear that their purpose in this galaxy is to wipe out the Humans. As always, there's a catch: Their weapons and hulls are built to fight Alien enemies, and though their weapons are devastating as ever, the energy shields on their ships are extraordinarily vulnerable to mass weapons such as the Gauss cannon and the Rail Gun. Thus, the Newbs are balanced against the vets, and the fight goes on.

The fact that Vendetta is a multi platform MMORPG does a great deal for it's survivability. Think of EverQuest, which is finding new life on the Mac even as it becomes outdated on other systems. Beyond that, the games that are remembered are the games that are simple, yet contain a solid set of gaming principles, games like Tetris, PacMan, Myst, and Escape Velocity. A game doesn't have to be overly complex in design or execution, so long as it's core gameplay presents something interesting, challenging and rewarding every time it is played. As it stands today, Vendetta is not interesting beyond the time it takes to explore 18 sectors, is not rewarding once a player tires of trading, fragging and capping, and for many veteran players, it isn't particularly challenging either. Therefore is has lost a substantial amount of it's value and would not appeal to mainstream players.

tetris.. is just so simple and entertaining that it will live on forever.

You're completely wrong about Space Invaders...

If they land then the aliens win the Earth for there nefarious plans! Don't you see? It's the EPIC battle between good and evil that keeps you playing Space Invaders. To quit is to give up your humanity or worse!

Well, at the rate you're taking down those aliens, a wing of you guys could defang the armada by yourselves.