I’ve been kicking this concept around for a few months now, and it’s finally started to take some form so that I could ably describe it to people. Given where technology is today and given where most people see technology going in the not-too-distant future, I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t already in the pipelines.
The game (which I’m calling The Need For Speed), will obviously be an Electronic Arts title, and will be a next-gen game, if not a next-next-gen game. It will be a massively-multiplayer online DRIVING game, and the concept is one that few games have ever touched on: normal, everyday driving with underlying racing elements. By the time this game would be released, technology will already have advanced far enough that all the world’s roads and geography will be able to be loaded onto a single disc, or streamed from a central server (cluster). Your driveway, the unpaved mountain roads of Bolivia, and the German Autobahn are just a few examples of roads you can instantly travel to and drive on.
Upon first registering the game, your avatar is dropped into a construct of sorts (think The Matrix) and up out of the ground sprouts thousands of vehicles. Hopping on a Segway, you get to ride around to any vehicle you wish (sorted alphabetically by car make, then model, then year, then class) and pick out your car…as long as it is street-legal in the country you wish to play in. It is bare-bones at the moment; not even the optional stuff is included. Colors are limited, external parts are limited, even the stuff inside the car are limited. But you can upgrade it later. And, the more you drive, eventually you may be able to take even the cars that aren’t street-legal out for a spin.
Being an MMODG, your world is populated with both the most intelligent (or dumbest, depending) driving AI and the other players around the world. From the construct you are dropped into the world in your own driveway, and you can drive freely around from there if you want. This would be the wisest thing to do to get a feel for the controls, of course, but you may want to get moving and collecting and unlocking things. There are a variety of time trials, but short and long, that are immediately available to you, and you may want to set some time aside for some of the longer ones. The gameplay and driving are about as accurate to real life as it gets, so distances travelled and speeds driven may force you to play for a while. A handy pausing mechanic, just in case you need it, will allow you to step away from the game. (Though I can’t decide if I’d rather you be able to immediately do a rolling pause, or have to pull over in order to pause.)
Of course, the ultimate purpose of this game would be racing. But real-world “racing” is not sanctioned or legal for the most part, and this is what you have to deal with. You’ll get in-game money for completing tasks, but you’ll have to keep an eye out for state and local policeout to make sure you obey the law. Like in real life, they may be everywhere, or they may be sparse. They may come after you, they may come after someone else. And if you think this is like previous NFS iterations where you lose a “life”, you’re wrong. Real-world laws apply here, and you may be suspended (or banned, if the terminology makes more sense) from the game for serious infractions. You’ll have to learn, just like regular drivers, how to bend the laws and when you can break them…or use others to your advantage.
Just like in previous NFS games, sometimes you can take control of the lesser appreciated aspects of the vehicular world for “regular” drivers. Bonus driving sessions will allow you to drive limos, taxis, big rigs and, as usual, emergency vehicles and maintenance crews as you can even go and help resolve accidents and pile-ups and get traffic moving again. Special conditions will allow you to take part in these missions, and certain unlockables will only be made available by completing these missions. It’s all very standard stuff for both RPGs and driving games, but when combined it makes for an experience which applies more to the average person than slaying monsters to get gear that everyone else has.
The big point of having a Need For Speed game as an MMO is the community. Buy/download custom made graphics. Real-time leaderboards to compare your times. Voice chat with people you’re driving along with (a la CB radio) or use your “cell phone” to chat with your online friends. (Maybe they can help you find out where the cops are?) Drivers clubs. Your friends can come with you while you both try to take out those long accomplishments/road trips.
Now, you may be asking: why would anyone want to simulate driving? It can be boring, and you could just do it in real life, and the long drives may not be worth it. Well, that all depends on your point-of-view. I seem to remember playing some instances in World of Warcraft for a couple of hours…and people have played some instances and dungeons for much longer. If fantasy isn’t your thing, I also remember the hour-long downhill race in SSX3 at the end of the game. The point is that, given enough time and enough incentive, people will be willing to do something for a long time if you give them the opportunity.
This is all pretty much a wish list for a future Need For Speed game, which I regret isn’t all too likely. Electronic Arts has rarely shown they have the cojones to spend their money to make a major, innovative game. It isn’t like a game like this couldn’t be made now if they really wanted to try it, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of foresight for a game like this to be made.
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