@darian said in Rabies and Vampirism:
@rolanstorm There's plenty of cool things a developer could do for a game, with the right mechanics implemented. It is a whole different story, to persuade stakeholders to actually take that risk though.
Exactly. Every time we stumble on 'if everyone can't have it its bad'. Why the hell it is bad? You described perfectly valid implementation. Yes, it is not for everyone.
Do you know how much I crafted in SWG? Zero. And it was game with crafting praised to this day. I skipped a grand part of the game and never felt bad about it.
I was also aiming to make a smuggler at launch because I knew there is no way I can get a Jedi. And I was fine with it. And, by the way, I never made a smuggler. I went into the game and I forgot about all my plans very fast. My character was ranger-ish rifleman. Somehow I want for outdoorsman type, it was just the flow.
And no, this is not another 'oh, how great SWG was'. Screw that, game had its issues. I mean the game allowed me and in fact stimulated me to interact with it on the level of adventure. I just reacted to things thrown at me and went with the flow.
Same could be for monster play. You got bitten by wolf, you feel weird for a few days and then... RAWRRRRR! And yes, after you tear a few humans apart you can go and try to find a cure, find redemption... but... just look at those nice, shiny abilities... and you will have more, lots of them... and the power... oh, the power!
You see the picture. Someone stumbling on something horrific lore-wise might become interested in staying a monster. That's real fun. Not to mention that players can hunt those turned monster and environment can react differently to those who chose monster play. NPC wolves of all types can be peaceful towards werewolves and undead towards vampires.
There is so much can be done in that area. I think the main problem not even about loosing balance. Very few people want complex gameplay.