Gaming Salem Preview

There's an MMO out there called Face of Mankind that is completely player-driven and has the possibility of permadeath. This is a game even more player-driven than Ultima or EVE, so I think it's been the best experiment for this kind of idea. The game is actually quite good and involving IF and WHEN the developer stays involved in the game, doesn't succumb to corruption him/herself, and doesn't make horrible design choices. That I think is going to be what's most important for Salem. If the developers leave the gamers completely to themselves and don't make an unassailable entry point for new players, chaos *will* reign supreme in the game as it has in Face of Mankind, whose community is unbelievably corrupt. I died five times trying to do the tutorial in that game because griefers would run around killing new players in the city that part of the tutorial takes place in! Salem better not make the same poor design choices. Open world MMOs can work just fine, but not without control.

 

Burn the witch!!!! burn her, she turned me into a new.... sorry.