Favourite inspiring/unique games

[zorg]

I just found out that Outcast is currently FREE on GOG! https://www.gog.com/game/outcast
It's a FPS with a non-linear storyline, and I absolutely LOVED it back in its heyday! Check it out!!

I've heard good things about Outcast, and it's also a voxel-based game, as far as i know (the whole world is, i mean)
That same design choice is also there in another game, Valheim, that's a bit more recent.

[ddabrahim]

I did really enjoyed Outcast, good story, interesting open world and the remaster is also got nice graphics.

One game that really inspired me is Entropia Universe. It is a sci-fi MMO. the game itself was visually pleasing a few years ago, currently running on CryEngine 2 which begin to look a bit outdated. I believe they are about to upgrade the engine to Unreal 5. I am no longer playing but `I keep it on my radar, going to be interesting to see how Unreal 5 going to change the game.

There is 4 interesting aspects to it.
One is the real cash economy. Basically the in-game money has real world value and you can make real money in-game and there are some legends who make a living from the game and did invest serious amount of money to purchase in-game properties. For example you can purchase a land and when people hunt on your land, some % of their loot goes to you and this is how you make in game-money that you can withdraw from the game and get real money paid in to your bank account. Of course I have no dreams to become a banker but it did inspire me.

The second thing about the game is that you can travel between planets in a spaceship either yours or hire someone to take you, land on other planets and experience a completely different world. The interesting part is, each planet in the game is basically an independent MMO maintained by different studios but share the same universe and players allowed to travel between them. The way I understand it, you can license their engine, SDK and create your own planet in Entropia Universe, basically a MOD similar to Roblox except, players can also trade items between the worlds. So you can go to a planet and buy a vehicle or armor that is unique to this planet and take it to your home planet and sell it. At which point it is considered a unique item on your planet and you can ask for ridiculously high price. I've seen off-world items offered for thousands of dollars, real money and this is why lot of people hate this game because on a bad day it can be very expensive game to play. But very inspiring.

The third thing is the player driven economy. Everything in the game is manufactured by other players, all the resources mined by others and all the items manufactured and built by others. Which is why it can be extremely expensive because people spend weeks and months or lots of money, mining, building and if there is high demand they put a real life price on items like a space ship cost $5000 in-game. Sucks, but inspiring.

The fourth thing is the extremely deep skill tree. You can become a pro in anything. Using a certain equipment, weapon driving a certain vehicle, the better you are the more efficient you are and you can offer your services to other people. For example if you are a pro at using a certain mining equipment, you can offer your services to mine certain resources for money or a %. Of course, just like everything equipments also expensive and the operation of the equipment is also cost resources. So you have the skill, the time and the person hire you provide the equipment and the resources or you charge extra money for bringing your own. the same goes for space ships, you can do space taxi, hunting, manufacturing, repair and maintenance, you can be an engineer with the skills to maintain and repair certain equipment for hire.

Really deep game and can be very expensive but has a lot to offer. I am genuinely interested to see what Unreal 5 going to bring to the game. What I am hoping for is maybe Mac support and a bit more content for space ships and space exploration and space combat. Space in the game is currently nothing but an empty void to travel planet to planet and maybe some dogfight for some pirate role-play. I am hoping for more content to explore in space.

[Gunroar:Cannon()]

Ooh, nice. I remember hearing about a game that has in-game money be real money. Must be that.
MMO, planets, player owned land. Reminds me of Oasis from the Ready Player One book (...or movie)

[ddabrahim]

Yes, I believe Entropia Universe is the only game with a real cash economy.

If I remember Diablo 3 did try similar with allowing people to sell their items for real cash and make money in the game but Blizzard stopped due to the constant hackings and cheats they could not handle. Their response was to permanently locked peoples account essentially taking away their access to the game which resulted in extremely negative feedbacks.

My account was also hacked and Blizzard locked me out of the game, fortunately after I made a demand to give me all the details of the computer was last time logged in to my account they decided to give me back my access instead but lot of people were not lucky and they have lost access to the game, all because of the real cash store. So finally Blizzard decided to give up on that.

I am almost certain Ready Player One is the inspiration behind Meta and the MetaVerse by Facebook
It was a good movie, the idea to go to work and party in a VR environment and get paid in the game is certainly an interesting concept.

[grump]

I am almost certain Ready Player One is the inspiration behind Meta and the MetaVerse by Facebook

I'm pretty sure the primary inspiration is Snow Crash, the novel that coined the term Metaverse 20 years before Ready Player One the novel, and almost 30 years before the movie existed.

[pgimeno]

Yes, I believe Entropia Universe is the only game with a real cash economy.

Unless you count Second Life as a game (which many do not).

[ddabrahim]

I'm pretty sure the primary inspiration is Snow Crash, the novel that coined the term Metaverse

In that case, you are probably right. Just the way Zuckerberg explained his vision for the Metaverse did sound a lot like Ready Player One to me with people live and work and get paid in the Metaverse. He talked like there is no tomorrow, people will no longer be able to meet in person and he believed it.

Unless you count Second Life as a game (which many do not).

Oh I was not aware you can make real cash in Second Life too. I tried the game many years ago but could not find anything interesting about it.
In my view as long it is virtual and you can quit at any moment without consequences in your real life, I consider it a game. I can imagine if someone did invest serious money in to a game like Entropia and Second Life to start an in-game business, it is no longer a game for them.
I heard stories about people spent tens of thousands of dollars to setup in-game businesses, shops in Entropia the same could be true for Second Life. At which point, it is not a game any more.

I even consider the demo account of eToro a game. It is no longer a game only when you start trading with real money.

[pgimeno]

In my view as long it is virtual and you can quit at any moment without consequences in your real life, I consider it a game.

That's not very clear in this case. There have been broken marriages, for example. I guess it depends on your own personal view of it, as it can be a lot of things. There's sex, role playing, marriages, sex, travelling, partying, dancing, sex, fantasy playing, taking the role of someone you can not be, social interaction, sex, academic classes, building, selling, concerts, did I mention sex already?

I can imagine if someone did invest serious money in to a game like Entropia and Second Life to start an in-game business, it is no longer a game for them.

In SL it doesn't take serious money to start a business; it's about the quality of your work. I started modest and gained a reputation, and earned some serious money (in the thousands of euros) with no initial investment. I only had to reinvest an insignificant bit of what I earned.

[grump]

I started modest and gained a reputation, and earned some serious money (in the thousands of euros) with no initial investment.

I made provable fair gambling machines and rented them out to casino operators on a commission basis. A few weeks in they banned all kinds of gambling because there was a lot of scamming going on.

I also had money in a "bank" that paid incredible interest on your balance. Turned out it was a Ponzi scheme and most of the "customers" lost their money.

SL was interesting, but always super shady.

[Gunroar:Cannon()]

Woah, seems like you can make serious money in SL. Or should I say could? Is it even still running/active?

I am almost certain Ready Player One is the inspiration behind Meta and the MetaVerse by Facebook
It was a good movie, the idea to go to work and party in a VR environment and get paid in the game is certainly an interesting concept.

Though the fact that Ready Player One was in a kind of dystopia and the reason for the fame/everything being done on Oasis is unsettling...thinking that Facebook wants to make VR life a thing despite the consequences (obesity, a neglected Earth, etc)?

Talking about VR worlds, anyone heard of Sword Art Online (anime/light novel, for me only the first volume of the light novel is actually worth a read, then from there it becomes a classic sort of fan-service/romance anime ).
There they had a VR system that would connect to your brain, put you in a kind of comma or sleep, and make the whole virtual world more immersive to the point where you can eat the virtual food and your brain would make you think you're eating (without actual nutrition though). Kind of like the later stages of Ready Player One where they got the high-tech gear, but more ... hightech ... and also less dystopian.

Is that type of thing even possible? Or could it be possible in the near future?