Ookawa

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

Whatever, it's not like I can win this discussion. I'm out :P

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

<Snipped quote by PyroDash888>

NPCs are a thing you know? We could have them also be lively and as real as the players so they act human.

<Snipped quote by PyroDash888>

I have an idea, two actually:

1) When people die they don't acutally "die" they simply wake up but no one on the inside knows since we've all been told that if we die in game we die irl.
2) We go the Log Horizon/Dark Souls route that means with every death, we begin to loose our mind more, unable to comprehend the fact we're supposed to be death but yet we're alive and slowly realizing that no matter what we do, we're trapped in an eternal cycle.

I hate to spoil childhood dreams, but being trapped in a game is not a good fate, its not paradise, its quite the opposite.

<Snipped quote by PyroDash888>

Your comparison of LH vs SAO is flawed since its not the concept of death each series uses, its how the writers portray and actually write them, pretty sure everyone here can say that SAO has abysmal writing.

@ClocktowerEchos

<.<
You are not wrong xD

I have another idea for "death" that is not actually dying, but might as well be.
When you die, you start all over. Level 1, starter town, starting gear, no money.
The higher you become in the level, the less you want to actually die. That way the huge "half of the players die withing the first week" thing is solved, too xD...

To make that work, we would have to make levelling up a very rewarding process, so that you feel the loss of those rewards even more when you die. And you will die, eventually. We can't all be Kirito :D

Somebody who lost everything they had will also be driven into this despair and the more it is known around the playerbase what a shitty thing it is to start all over, maybe even with some more penalties to slow your initial progress, especially with the huge bulk of players not around the starting area to help you anymore, people will try to avoid dying as best as possible.

How is this for an idea?

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

Either way... you are dying. Don't forget there also is an atrophication angle. A human being can only lie in a bed for approximately five weeks before they start to experience organ failure.

In order to avoid this a registered nurse has to feed you intravenously, to massage your muscles regularly and roll you over every few hours.

Once you finally succeed at logging out you have months of rehabilitation ahead of you and that's assuming you even have insurance and can afford such treatments.

@Assallya

Or they are physically transported into the world and their body is, somehow, don't ask me how, stored as data and restored when they log out, ala Star Trek transporter device.

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

<Snipped quote by PyroDash888>
In terms of the RP’s playerbase— we’re likely to have drops, and having this mechanic would help the GM manage such things instead of character’s disappearing and having no imperative effect on the characters or the plot.

@Gowi

I was not talking about RP players here. More about the general playerbase. Cities become wastelands because nobody lives in them anymore and the more players die the harder the "endgame content" becomes, no?
Also... I have no idea why even somebody would do such a thing as to kill players IRL when they are killed in game. Makes no sense to me. Maybe the standard answer to that question. "Because he is evil". I dunno, I'd find it tricky to find a proper reason, but this is of course a weak argument against this.

And what do you mean, there can't be any depth without consequences? Of course there can! Even with consequences SAO was as deep as a dried up lake in the desert, whereas Log Horizon had that depth. A meaning.
You'd just have to search the meaning for everybody's existence in the world somewhere else than it just being "a fight for survival", which in itself is pretty shallow, too...

Still, I realize I am fighting a lost cause here. No matter what I try to say, it won't sway anybody, I guess.

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

<Snipped quote by ClocktowerEchos>
<Snipped quote by NarcissisticPotato>
I completely agree with Echoes regarding this.

I also bolded points of emphasis per my perspective.

.HACK, Sword Art Online, Overlord, and Log Horizon all appropriately define the framework of life & death within their frameworks a little differently— but all of them have point. The whole aspect of “if you die in the game, you die in reality” is a lot more significantly interesting to me and once realized by the players would actually create anxiety, paranoia, and dread. I think it is certainly more interesting than countless respawning. Death needs to have weight and danger— and ultimately I think Sword Art Online’s system is better than Log Horizon’s in this aspect (and probably this aspect alone). I would advocate for death having weight, meaning, and harshness to go alongside the RP’s themes.

Remember, just because the ‘Dark Lord’ didn’t explain to us how death works doesn’t mean it is one system or another— it just means whatever it is, it will be a surprise and that surprise puts people on edge and people on edge do stupid things.

@Gowi

Well, yeah. If you're happy with a rapidly diminishing playerbase. And with only few "active" players, because why would you go out and risk your life when you can just happily chill somewhere safe, possibly in the low level zones when you're higher level, simply farming the low level mobs that pose no significant threat to you.
Or you have suicides...

I see why you would want such a thing, if you also like zombie apocalypse stuff, which I don't.

Whereas having a respawn system, with some penalties applied to it, like losing all your equipment, money and some experience points, would enable the players to form alliances to try and better their world. Of course there are the "bully" players, too. But that is one of the challenges one needs to overcome.
And it might even result in player alliance vs player alliance wars.

From my point of view, SAO does a pretty terrible job at conveying how a permadeath system in what is basically a game, which is made for you to die in, much more easily than in real life, at least, effects human psyche. Especially when a good part of the playerbase is underage. It would certainly create a "Walking Dead"-esque environment, which you could escape from by just not risking it.

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

@Jabber

Aye aye, capt'n. And thanks :P

Gonna repost for ease.

Sora

Sora

Username: Sora 소라
IRL Name: Tae Ryu-min 태 류민
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Theme: Sawano Hiroyuki - 108

Background: Coming... maybe!

Class: Novice (Rogue later)
Level: 9

Stats:
HP - Calculated after acceptance.
MP - Calculated after acceptance.

Skills/Spells:

[Trapping] Passive Ability in crafting traps, bows and arrows

[Poison Arrow] An ability that lets loose an arrow that, while having almost zero alpha damage, places a debuff upon the target. The debuff hampers movement, making the target slower in both movement and attack-time

[Ambush Stance] A semi-active ability that makes the detection radius of the caster really small and allows movement without sound. Also, when attacking a target in Ambush Stance, the first hit does twice times as much damage as normal, but Ambush Stance is immediately disengaged and cannot be reactivated unless the user is out of combat and sight from the enemies.

Inventory:
Basic Wooden Bow
Quiver stocked with stone tipped arrows
Traveler’s Tunic
Health Potion [10]

Storage:
150 gemstones

Writing Sample:

When the notice arrived, Sori had just stuck launched an arrow through a wolf's head and looted its remains for the skin to sell at the market.
"Stuck in here forever?" She glanced at the message again trying to find the catch. When she couldn't find anything, she simply shrugged. "Pshh. Could be worse."
For a long time, she had asked herself, if it would be better for her if she actually lived in a virtual world. Full time, not just every now and then, when she had time from her more than busy study schedule.
Sori, or Tae Ryu-min, as her name was outside the game, didn't like her life, the one not in the video games, not very much. She was athletic, yes, competed in province-wide and even one nation-wide volleyball competition with her team.
But that did not necessarily mean that she was happy with how she lived. Less time with studying, more time excersising was what she wanted. Everybody, but her parents, knew her potential to make it as far as even the national team. But all her parents and teachers ever wanted was an obedient student, who did nothing but study for some silly desk job.

While she personally didn't experience any distress over the notion of being stuck in this world, it seemed that others she met on the way back to the city did. Once or twice, she had to stop to help comfort people who were, to put it bluntly, freaking out.
'This is going to be quite interesting...'

Everything checks out now?

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

@PyroDash888
nice character!

@cloudystar

Thanksies :3 ^.^

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

Sori

Sori

Username: Sori 소리
IRL Name: Tae Ryu-min 태 류민
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Theme: The Kingdom of the Winds - Mu-Hyul's Theme

Background: Coming... maybe!

Class: Novice (Rogue later)
Level: 9

Stats:
HP - Calculated after acceptance.
MP - Calculated after acceptance.

Skills/Spells:

[Trapping] Passive Ability in crafting traps, bows and arrows

[Poison Arrow] An ability that lets loose an arrow that, while having almost zero alpha damage, places a debuff upon the target. The debuff hampers movement, making the target slower in both movement and attack-time

[Ambush Stance] A semi-active ability that makes the detection radius of the caster really small and allows movement without sound. Also, when attacking a target in Ambush Stance, the first hit does twice times as much damage as normal, but Ambush Stance is immediately disengaged and cannot be reactivated unless the user is out of combat and sight from the enemies.

Inventory:
Basic Wooden Bow
Quiver stocked with stone tipped arrows
Traveler’s Tunic
Health Potion [10]

Storage:
150 gemstones

Writing Sample:

When the notice arrived, Sori had just stuck launched an arrow through a wolf's head and looted its remains for the skin to sell at the market.
"Stuck in here forever?" She glanced at the message again trying to find the catch. When she couldn't find anything, she simply shrugged. "Pshh. Could be worse."
For a long time, she had asked herself, if it would be better for her if she actually lived in a virtual world. Full time, not just every now and then, when she had time from her more than busy study schedule.
Sori, or Tae Ryu-min, as her name was outside the game, didn't like her life, the one not in the video games, not very much. She was athletic, yes, competed in province-wide and even one nation-wide volleyball competition with her team.
But that did not necessarily mean that she was happy with how she lived. Less time with studying, more time excersising was what she wanted. Everybody, but her parents, knew her potential to make it as far as even the national team. But all her parents and teachers ever wanted was an obedient student, who did nothing but study for some silly desk job.

While she personally didn't experience any distress over the notion of being stuck in this world, it seemed that others she met on the way back to the city did. Once or twice, she had to stop to help comfort people who were, to put it bluntly, freaking out.
'This is going to be quite interesting...'

Well... it is 3:40 am now. <.< >.>

Have a character!

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

I can't think of an Avatar name <.< >.>
Gods... it's starting to get late, too...
(2 am... *cough cough*)

Aether Online - A VMMORPG RP inspired by Log Horizon, SAO, and Overlord

Rereading the OP, I realize that my idea might not be able to work in its scifi/cyberpunk apperance, that said I feel like a magician-like character could probably pull off the core idea pretty well.

<Snipped quote by PyroDash888>

Personally I'm all for permadeath (or some penalty for dying), gives the RP a feel of weight; running head first guns blazing again and again can only be so interesting. Plus actual character deaths do provide good plot elements.

@ClocktowerEchos

Well, yeah. But, seeing what SAO made out of that idea compared to how it is done in Log Horizon, for example, I find the prospect of permadeath a bit... bleh. Bland, I guess.
Penalty for dying, sure, maybe.

Also... I find it hard to believe that in such a world, if, like in SAO, player killers are seemingly pretty common, people would still trust each other to not slaughter you in your sleep or something xD