By Jay Watamaniuk

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The Future of Persistent Worlds

NWN was not originally designed for persistent world play, yet there are many, many persistent worlds. Do you think the base code for NWN will eventually hamper the growth of persistent worlds, or does that matter any more?

Maximus: Where there is a will, there is a way. The community is resourceful and I believe they can make whatever they want happen through sheer force of dedication. I'm sure there are many that would have loved NWN to have been even more flexible, but they will look at any problem as a challenge and overcome it.

Rizzen: I think the number one thing hampering persistent worlds are the number of persistent worlds, not so much the code base. I think it will be a long time before anything out there will give creative, imaginative, non-professional game developers the opportunity to create a rich persistent world like Neverwinter Nights does. Sure, the engine will never keep up with the big boy's MMORPGs, however, Neverwinter Nights gives a feature set that just is not available through any other engine that I know of (not easily at least).

Poetic Colossus: The tenacity and creativity behind some of the PWs out there is simply brilliant. That being said, there is quite an over-saturation of PWs these days. I worry that quantity of players is sometimes more important to PW operators than the quality of the experience. There is simply no comparison in my mind to the fun factor that you can get out of a small group of players, 4-6, and one DM. I mean come on...for those of us pen and paper vets out there, did your DM ever have you kill the same group of monsters, who were in the same location, to get the same loot, 50 times in a row, so you could level up!? Could I get a +5 Flail of Self-Flagellation instead!?

Steelwind: I think the limiting factors have largely been removed by multi servers and NWNX2. I find the code base for NWN to be more limiting for single player designs, actually. Online play was the tail that wagged the dog with NWN from the very beginning.

LadyRolePlay: Ultimately yes. The limits on the number of areas and how the engine runs things like the AI will prove a roadblock that cannot be overcome without a major overhaul of the engine. Another problem is the variety that PWs try to build into themselves to make their own world unique. Hence, from player perspectives, haks can be huge and custom content flawed and broken with updates to NWN wreaking havoc on them. Perhaps some "arrangement" could be made to minimize this by future development of "defining" code areas for "designer" and for "community" use.

Lycius: The base code for NWN has already hampered PW growth on a massive level. The only reason there are PWs in NWN is because the coders of the community have dedicated hundreds of thousands of man hours into forcing it to work. I could name example after example of known issues with the engine or dedicated server that PW admins have been fighting.

Papermonk: To some extent, it already does/always has. But people get used to anything and I think that the community has been pretty innovative to get what they wanted to work.

Do you think persistent worlds or DMed campaigns are the future of NWN?

Lycius: PWs are the present and future of this game. People play SP games once and then they collect dust on a shelf. People play day after day after day on PWs and DMed modules. Gamers want to play against other people. Action players want live opponents, roleplayers can't role-play with a scripted NPC.

LadyRolePlay: Both. DMed campaigns allow the world to be run by the human brain, which no AI can duplicate right now or in the near, and not-so-near, future. PWs allow players, especially casual players, to hop on and have something to play at their leisure. PWs also give those who like player versus player an outlet so they don't come around and gank those of us trying to RP. Although PWs are little more than "perpetual" mods, a number of DMed sessions can extend the world and storyline 'beyond the mundane' in much the same way that a 'custom mod' (or even an official campaign) can be enhanced. I don't think the two 'ideas' are in any way mutually exclusive, and I believe that they will, in the main, go hand in glove with each other. Trying to build the stage, would for me, take precious time away from what I love: writing, playing, and sometimes DMing. So, I actually make use of PWs as the "stage" to play the story out on.

Rizzen: I think they are both the future of Neverwinter Nights. Unfortunately, the community has occasionally been split over these two types of games and rarely do they think of themselves as being on the same side. With that said, persistent worlds do require a lot more work and generally a larger team to maintain. They also generally require a larger user base. So, I do believe that the DMed campaigns will carry the more weight over the long run.

Maximus: If I had to guess, I would say most likely PW will enjoy a much greater audience in the future, which in turn will expose people to multiplayer and the DM client, which will undoubtedly increase smaller DMed campaigns.

Steelwind: While I don't think that it is the future for NWN2 or Dragon Age, I do think it is becoming increasingly important to the present NWN incarnation, and as a percentage of active players in the community, it will continue to proportionately increase as SP fans move on.

Papermonk: I can only hope not for PWs. I mean, I've checked out a few and been impressed, but largely they are too much like MMORPGs, and I prefer the style and sophistication you find in single or DMed multiplayer modules much more. Ideally, the future will have plenty of single player, multiplayer, and hosted games, as well as persistent worlds. But I'll always be in the "give me a solid single player game" camp, first and foremost.

Why is the NWN community so persistent?

LadyRolePlay: Companionship. Players have a "finite" amount of time though when playing, hence one tends to gravitate to a core group one knows and whose style they like. The NWC site accomplished what it set out to do: help folks find groups to play with. At the same time, the community is generous and giving, which facilitates a mutual gain and fulfillment both in character and out of character that one and all enjoy. A social club if you will, that all are welcome to join in and contribute to.

Rizzen: Unlike other games, Neverwinter Nights is not an anonymous killing affair. It's generally a social environment where you make friends, and the time you spend playing feels more satisfying rather than the "same old same old" that a first person shooter might give you. You carry away memories that are closer to real life than a first person shooter memory may give you. I would say that's the primary difference between this and other types of games. Also, I would say NeverwinterConnections.com really brings people together so that they make lasting friendships. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I could send you thousands of testimonials on the difference it's made in people's gaming lives :).

Maximus: At its core are dedicated fans who enjoy creating. This in turn feeds the people who enjoy building, who in turn fuel the people who enjoy playing. NWN provides the tools needed to build your own worlds and experience quality roleplaying adventures that aren't available in any other RPG game. It's a great combination.

Steelwind: There is no one reason for this. The success of the game's community was due to a combination of factors that may be prohibitively hard to duplicate again, IMO (see below).

Lycius: Because there is no other game out there which is D&D based and offers the capabilities of the Aurora Toolset.

Papermonk: BioWare created a great self-evolving community that was provided with a robust and easy to use toolset and an ability to add and create more content. This was combined with continued support from BioWare and a good infrastructure to sustain it (the Vault, the Bioboards, etc.). It was a recipe for success!

Poetic Colossus: Partly due to the design of the game, it allows for everyone, even those with little technical skill such as myself, to get involved in the creative aspects of the game. The other reasons include the drive of simply an amazing community in itself and their appreciation for the fantasy setting.

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