Future of Rust
January 09, 2014
I've been following the Rust development and reading Rust articles and interviews and I keep getting the feeling that they are trying to make Rust into something completely different than how we're currently playing it.
To put it simply, they want to remove zombies and focus on player-authored emergent game-play. From what I've seen on the PvP servers, "player-authored emergent game-play" is running around holding a rock and dodging bullets for about 2-3 minutes before you finally get killed. So, in interest of providing an environment to be able to see the game in its entirety and figure it out without the frustrations of getting killed every 2-3 minutes, we decided that our server would be PvE. This has helped a ton, but has caused a different problem: There's not really any PvE. You have a poor implementation of animals and zombies, one of which, they want to remove from the game.
So, as I finish my 4-story metal fort with everything I've ever wanted in it, and fill my storage bins full of resources that I'm not using, I've started to think about moving on to other games. I have a hard time saying goodbye, though. At first glance I was very intrigued by the gritty minecraft reboot with guns and harsh survivability. As I played the game and realized that the minecraft aspect was only a hint, and that it was a different game altogether, I clung to that thought hoping that the game would eventually add more minecrafty-ness. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the developers have something else in mind.
"Emergent game-play". The developers of the game want to create a world in which the players invent how the game is fun. At first glance, you'd think, "That's lazy development". But, consider this: Have you ever played with Lego's? Kinex? Emergent game-play. They give you the "building blocks", so to speak, and then you invent how they are fun. Build a castle? A space-ship? Host an inter-faction war? Anything you want. Whatever you think is fun.
Finally understanding what the developers really had in mind with this game is definitely a paradigm shift for me. With this new light, I started to come up with ways that we could open up PvP to re-introduce the excitement and danger to the game, as well as embrace the emergent gameplay. But I must warn you... you have to put your RP hat on to go where I'm going with this idea...
New Eden (stole it from Firefall) is what I'm thinking that we should build. There should be a government, elected officials, militia, prison, towns, etc. We could build a whole world within our server that operates by rules that we define, and welcome all to come and do the same. With the variety of players coming in and out of the game there should be enough dynamic to make it all interesting, challenging and compelling. I think this is what the game developers had in mind. For each server to develop its own playstyle and rules and make Rust into the vehicle of their end-game.
Anywho... these are my thoughts. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in doing something like this?
January 09, 2014
Sounds good to me, I will be "The Governor"
Its not what you know, it what they think you know
January 10, 2014
I was sort of thinking the same thing when I was on last night. I like what they're building, and I'm hoping that the zombies are replaced with something more dangerous (rather than just deleted). I have fun with the PvP in the game sometimes, but I play other games that do PvP better. The building, exploration, and finding adventure is what I hope for with Rust. Last night I did my normal cycle of repairing my walls (and decided to give up on three of my houses). Then I sat there with nothing to do really. So I started gathering materials with a new goal of filling one large storage crate with every item in the game. How fun is that, though? Not very.
I started looking for an RP server before deciding to just go to bed. I know the game is early, and I still love it... but it need something. When I'm in the mood, I can do the whole get killed/raided and return the favor cycle, but I need something more. I think that's where we come in as players. We have to make figure out what else to do with what they're giving us. I think the best thing Facepunch can do is to make something other than players be extremely dangerous. Getting lost shouldn't be the only worry at night. I think the game can still take a direction that I enjoy, and I know they will give us the tools in the end to do something interesting. Garry's Mod has a lot of great mods and RP stuff.
I'm all for trying anything out on the server. I like the group of regulars that play there. I think it's time to try something new to make it interesting. Part of alpha testing is to show that players are interested in more than the "die, build, get raided, repeat" game.