Feedback:User/Brown Fang Thump/Go-based Metagame for Individuals and Guild Leaders

This idea creates a go-based system for individuals and groups to accrue territory and compete for influence of the game world, using the events system and an artificial life paradigm. (That sounds really technical and dull; but, bare with me. The result would be fun. Really.)

The events system should relate to player level and achievement in a way that allows each player to exert a certain amount of influence over the NPCs in the territories around them, effectively giving players control over land. The player or NPC with the most influence over a particular plot of land should have the option of assuming ownership of that territory. Those who own territories have a limited amount of control over the amount of resources (people) devoted to common societal activities such as defense, infrastructure, trade, magic, industry, education, conquest and diplomacy. The amount of resources used would determine the ability of a territory to automatically maintain the player or NPC's ownership, through the generation of more influence. The system would assign a number or series of events to be completed by NPCs and/or players to meet the requirements of these resource allocations. Then the influence of the individual or group would increase or decrease according to the success or failure of the completion of the assigned events.

Novice individuals may only be able to influence their immediate surroundings (a 1/3 to 2 meter radius, possibly) while advanced individuals and leaders of large guilds would influence larger areas, based on their accrued experience and choices in a hierarchic ladder of ownership abilities. Highly developed individuals and guilds would then earn the ability to own multiple locations. As in the ancient game of Go, territories that are surrounded be a single owner become the property of that owner. In this way, guilds and individuals can exert influence over large territories in a way that can be expressed dynamically from moment to moment. Guild alliances would allow for more nuanced play.

The hierarchic format, coupled with the "opt in" concept would allow every player the opportunity to compete for territory with NPCs which would also use the system to drive their events. At each tier of the hierarchy, individuals and groups would have specific amounts and areas of control. Dragons would, naturally, have the greatest control over the areas they claim and would have to be contended with. In fact, dragons could be used as a balancing mechanism to keep players engaged in the metagame.

This type of system would appeal most to players who are interested in notoriety, those who seek titles and community recognition. It would also appeal to strategists who enjoy go, Risk and chess. By having the influence of each individual or guild controlled by the events system and servers, with limited player "hinting" via resource settings, the minutia and tediousness of resource management would be eliminated, allowing a more go-like or chess-like player experience. Players would be able to simply choose the territories they seek to control without having to micromanage the struggles to win the territory. The events system could incorporate events that enable quests that assign the work of conquest to other players or groups of NPCs (with the usual rewards).

The use of a hierarchic tree of achievement-based opportunities allows this go system to act as a form of leader board, in which the most influential individuals and groups assume the highest positions and everyone else is ranked lower. This leader board of influence could be displayed on the GW2 site and graphically within the game. A set of titles could be associated with progress through the hierarchy. Ideally, the system would be open ended, allowing developers to add additional tiers to the hierarchy through patches, mods or plug-ins (depending of the preferences of their programmers). Territory control could be communicated through the world map in a system similar to that used in Factions; but, with colors relative to profession, race or guild, rather than faction. Regions in transitions might have their own color.

As go is an ancient strategy game that is only rivaled by chess in terms of popularity (for strategy board games), it is an excellent foundation to base play systems on. It is also very compatible with a Magic-like system of "lands give power and use of power yields success" in terms of strategic play process. The current GW analog is the system used in Factions for control of outposts and towns based on PvP faction earned. This go-based system replaces the Factions system and allows both PvP and PvE players to participate. It also helps to establish more of an artificial life system in the game for NPCs, rather than a script-based artificial intelligence paradigm. As proven by games like Gears of War, which use artificial life algorithms similar to those used in Peter Jackson's LotR films, artificial life yields more dynamic play in controlled systems and adds replay value because of this dynamism. I'm sure that ArenaNet could expand this idea with their creative teams, the help of a go master and the support of their programming staff.