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The team at NCSoft wants to know what makes you tick. They want to know how you make decisions, which conclusions you come to first, and why. Are you the type that strives to settle each encounter peacefully, or with a quick jab to the face? In the MMO genre, it has become commonplace for story progression to center around physical actions and accomplishments. You want to bring peace to your village? Kill ten thieves and loot twenty swords. The process loops in on itself to form the majority of your gameplay. To say the least, it becomes stale and meaningless all to quickly.
To be sure, Guild Wars 2 will offer hours upon hours of monster killing and general bloodshed. In fact, it’s safe to say that epic battles are one of the game’s main selling points. However, NCSoft is branching out and taking a refreshing angle on personal story and the variables therein. Curtis Johnson, one of the designers working on GW2, wants players to feel comfortable in their role within the game. By role, Johnson doesn’t just refer to combat specialties; the game’s depth really shines when we begin to understand the concept of player personality.
Curtis Johnson puts it well: “In persistent game worlds, NPCs commonly get all the good lines and dialogue, and the player character is more of a flat character that is passing through with very fixed or very little emotion.” As mentioned before, the player character generally makes his impact using his sword, not his words. Dialogue should be a two-way interaction, with meaningful input from both sides. Like many BioWare games we can name, Guild Wars 2 will feature an ever-changing player “personality” that will affect the way NPCs and other players interact with you. You may be faced with a morally ambiguous situation, only to find that you haven’t been given a clear path out. This may seem far-fetched to some, but that is the very essence of the “RP” in MMORPG. Seemingly insignificant decisions, such as tricking the local lumberjack into giving you a free weapon, may earn you the reputation of a barbarian or scoundrel. Word travels quickly in the land of Tyria, and soon enough, shopkeeps and merchants may run and hide at your approach. Alternatively, if you’ve recently motivated some war-weary guards to continue the good fight, townsfolk may approach you and speak highly of you.
Over the course of your journeys, you will encounter many people that will present challenging offers to you. Depending on the responses you give, you may be awarded with Karma. If you are of high enough Karma, you may receive gifts or steep discounts, among other things. Johnson assures the more trigger-happy of us that there will certainly be a way to establish the reputation of a closed-mouthed brigand who wants nothing more than to get to the point. Not everyone likes extensive dialogue options and consequences, so they will be accounted for as well.
Read more about the player personality at the official site.