NPCs gifting items
While reading through discussions I feel deep into a childhood memory. In a game called VMK (Virtual Magic Kingdom : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Magic_Kingdom), there was a restaurant area with an npc waiter walking around. If you sat at a table and said in chat a Key Phrase he would walk over to you and give food. The phrase would change every week or so.
I imagine something like that would be clever and unique in-game. Something like:
*Walks past Helga*
Player: "Nice Eye"
Helga: "Thanks Honey!"
*Gives Honey*
The VMK system was set up so you could only say the phrase once per day but it brought a special surprise to the game. Sometimes the Devs would post a puzzle or hint about that week's phrase and when you visited the restaurant you could see people trying to work it out. Very fun.
Thoughts?
I imagine something like that would be clever and unique in-game. Something like:
*Walks past Helga*
Player: "Nice Eye"
Helga: "Thanks Honey!"
*Gives Honey*
The VMK system was set up so you could only say the phrase once per day but it brought a special surprise to the game. Sometimes the Devs would post a puzzle or hint about that week's phrase and when you visited the restaurant you could see people trying to work it out. Very fun.
Thoughts?
Comments
Heck, at that rate.. it's not hard to imagine things like password-activated doors to your home. Imagine giving your friends the password to your house instead of just a key. Little more special
I really like that thought : ) I think it'd be extra neat if there was a way to like, get a one use iMG card that let you type 'MEAT' into local and cause all the piggies to drop meat. With corresponding cards for Trees and Chickens and Butterflies etc. They'd come with having Gardening V or Animal Kinship VII or whatever the dev's deemed to be balanced.
For example say there's a little crossword we can solve. You complete 4 Down and you're rewarded with a note that says 4T. That means the secret word has at least four letters and the fourth one is T. As you complete clues you get more papers like 1B, 2U, 3T, 5E, 6R etc. and eventually you get BUTTERFLY or some other glitchy word : D
Then if you go up to Helga or whoever and say BUTTERFLY in local chat (It would have to be obscured to other users I suppose so they can't grab the reward without solving the puzzle) and get five awesome stews! Or whatever the prize is.
Hesitant on the idea of password-accessible homes rather than keys... This is the sweetest community I've ever known, yes, but stuff does happen and people do sometimes misrepresent themselves, and passwords can be shared with people you didn't originally intend to give them to. I'd just be concerned about security. I like the key system, personally -- makes it a little more real! Like giving an IRL friend an actual key to your house.
I love the idea of secret words or phrases, and puzzles in general. How fun!
I mean, freebie piles are awesome, don't get me wrong, but if you wanted to give away a higher class of items and wanted to make sure that they disappeared one by one...
(Still not convinced this is entirely a good idea for an item, but whatever... I'm throwing caution to the winds and tossing out ideas, because who knows what part of them people might find useful!)
@Liza Throttlebottom Yes! Something like that! Or maybe there's a treasure hunt, and everyone is given a clue to decipher a location and passcode... when you say the passcode at the location, you get the next clue and so on till you get a prize (maybe, like, it's a temporary portal to an amazing mini-world?)