If DBC created a continent dedicated to user made hexes, each one being designed using the current playforge process, would you warp in? What would be your ideal DB cash price to play one conquest session; knowing that, the higher the entrance fee, the more royalties the authors gets..?
I would pay precisely $0 per-warp to a Player Made continent. However, if it was rolled in with proper intercontinental lattice, I would pay 20-30$ USD for "Expansions" featuring Player Made continents. So, as an example, if the Devs rolled out proper intercontinental lattice by inserting a battle island between our current continents - and then the Player Made continent was then inserted into this mixture - I would pay a one time fee of 20-30$ USD for access to the new Player Made continent. On the assumption that the dev touch time, PlayerStudio collaboration time, and quality assurance would limit each continent launch to 5-6 months - I would be willing to do this each time a Player continent came out. ... All this said I don't think Player Studio Continents are likely to become a thing. If the construction system achieves its goals it is much more likely that we will see much more rapid development of continents by the development team. If it comes to pass that the construction system allows it so that a continent can function with only large facilities and a few developer-made bases - a good chunk of the work in continent development goes away. This means faster, more cost effective, implementation. It is much more likely that we will see base building components opened up to Player Studio.
Playerstudio artists may like to hear that! 20-30$ it's 2$ for each artists scaled by the number of players. I can see subscribed players having some rebate/favor to access in. Indeed, if the construction system perform better than the playerstudio made hexes, user made continent may be obsolete. Or maybe... If the players manage to turn the construction system into a stalemate fest (obviously it will be very easy to build an uncapturable base) Balance-sanctionned bases designed by playstudio authors could be useful.
I'm bursting bubbles - it's never going to happen. We cannot even have user made guns or vehicles. Expecting a user made continent is a pipe dream - it's just too big and ambitious for this stage of the game. Especially if youre asking people to pay to play on the probably sub standard continents, in a free to play game.
It worked for teamfortress 2, how they managed to bring a revenue to their map authors without setting a paywall is worth talking about
Well, they could give us at least a Map Editor. They propably have their own one, so they could CnP it, change it a bit and let us create some content. How they are restricting it - like limiting the size of the Maps (like Koltyr-Sized Battle Islands only), the map objects, object count per map and scaling options etc. and how they are checking and "releasing" this continent is another question. Also how they want to reward it is a question. I think a sum of like 1000 DBC would be at least something. I had some fun with the GTA San Andreas Multiplayer (SAMP) Map-Editor years ago and it is tricky at first to get to know such a Map Editor, but is also a huge fun creating your own Maps. Everyone can do it, not only professional Level Designers. It is no science.
Not saying it will happen, but I would say that player-made guns and vehicles would be far more difficult to implement than player-made maps. Player-made weapons and vehicles are almost guaranteed to be brokenly OP and will need time-consuming balancing. A map cannot be OP or UP, so it should theoretically require fewer resources to put in the game. Sure, some bases may be unfun or poorly designed, but this isn't gamebreaking as people can simply choose not to play there. I agree about payment; this is not something that the creators should or could be expected to be paid for. Ignoring the legal hurdles that DBG would have to go through, players will not pay to play on a community-made continent when they can play on the official continents for free. Selling the continent as DLC would also be suicidal, as even the standard two continents barely have enough players these days. Putting the continent behind a paywall will guarantee that nobody plays there, which in turn will ensure that nobody buys it.
the only thing that would help PS2, besides some major work on new content, which DBGs isn't going to do, because they don't care about PS2, is to drop the whole mess into the lap of modders and let them have fun. Player made maps, modes, etc. how about a tank vs tank map with no infantry? how about infantry only in BALANCED (OMG, balance in PS2?) TDM or CTF maps. how about tanks and air vs tanks and air? or maxes vs tanks? PS2 could be fun, instead of the same old unbalanced, tired content that DBG hasn't updated in about two years.
i agree, because DBG has basically abandoned PS2 and is milking a few bucks out of it while they're working on their next project.
players would probably make every base like the old crown, nigh impregnable awesomeness, hell yeah i'd warp in getting bored of all the bases SOE made which seem to favour the attackers!
Good idea with the map editor, the big gain for DBG is that they just need to release the ground map , and the texture/objects. You can trust the mapmakers to surprise the playerbase, for the payment, it's likely a little button you click on the hex you want to support to give $, or anything similar, and the most supported hexes stay the longest. Support under the form of tokens or stamps would just clutter the store
