Long-short: I want to incentivize players sharing their items.
Context
Take any game in which players either have to work to obtain an item or there are a limited number of items, and players also play with strangers. Typically there is no benefit to giving items for free to strangers (other than the feel-good chemicals in your brain if you’re a better person than I), unless it is specifically a team game (you’d give health or ammo items to teammates because if they’re not around then you yourself are in danger) or you and the other player formed a team.
My game places players on the same team, but working as a team is optional. That’s intentional, I don’t want to force players to work as a team because the game should be playable alone and every player can have different priorities depending on how they want to play.
Due to how exploration works and the enemies that can be encountered, traveling with and fighting alongside other players is already beneficial. Something that isn’t nearly as beneficial is sharing items outside of the above two scenarios.
For example when exploring it’s beneficial to have someone else scouting and navigating with you. When fighting it’s obviously better to have a teammate that you want to keep alive and equipped.
But on a regular day when you find two apples and you and the stranger with you aren’t starving, why even ask if they want one apple? You can just grab another stranger who’s better fed if this one disappears.
Why give away your super-useful tool to someone who might lose it or do something with it you don’t want them to?
Like I said, players are on the same team but working as a team is optional because players should have a choice (and honestly some teammates create more problems than solve them). But the game intends to revolve around communicating with and working alongside other players towards a goal that benefits everyone, from an enemy that threatens everyone.
Solution
My current idea is this.
Players have a Personal Inventory in which anything inside will be theirs.
There is a Main Inventory in which anything inside that isn’t already owned by the player can be lost in a couple of ways.
There is a Shared Storage in which players place items into, it is a physical location that must be reached to access.
Items the player places into their inventory, whether Personal or Main, will have a timer set on them if they do not have an Owner. If the timer ends while the item is in the Personal Inventory, the item will become owned by that player. If the timer ends while the item is in the Main Inventory, the item will be dropped upon death, and other players can take it (the timer will not refresh for the new player).
Items have a chance of dropping if the player dies while a timer exists, unless it is in the Personal Inventory.
Players can put items with timers (or even without) into a Shared Storage, which will start another timer for the item. During that timer the item cannot be removed. A Shared Storage will auction off the items to other players (the item has a preset price), which they buy with Points (the player who placed the item can also buy the item back). Players receive a small amount of Points when they place an item into the Shared Storage based on the item’s value, but otherwise earn Points when an item they place into the Shared Storage is bought.
When the timer ends, if the price has been met or exceeded then the buying player receives the item and becomes its Owner. If the price has not been met then the price increases and the player who originally placed the item into the Shared Storage can take it at no cost and become its Owner.
Items with Owners will not be dropped upon death if in the Owner’s inventory, but can be dropped manually. An item that has an Owner but is picked up by a player that is not its Owner will not have a timer set to it, but can still be auctioned at a Shared Storage and will drop when the player dies.
The timer for an item will freeze if dropped after a player’s death or placed into a storage (not a player’s inventory).
Outside of auctions, Points can also be used to buy things from other shops.
Thoughts
Goods:
- Players still have primary control over what they keep. Their Personal Inventory is guaranteed to be theirs. Items only drop if the player dies. And players receive Points based on the value of the item they put into the Shared Storage, which they can use to buy back the item.
- There is no penalty for not sharing. Item-Loss upon death has been a mechanic in games for years and I believe can easily be accepted as a norm in this game.
- Players can still share the items they find without going through the Shared Storage process.
- Points gained from losing an item here can be used to gain an item or opportunity elsewhere.
Bads:
- None. It is perfect.
- I think this process is rather complicated, and if a player chooses to go through with it then their enjoyment of finding and using an item can be prolonged.
- The timer for each item can be confusing to new players and can put some unneeded pressure on players to act, which I want action to be completely optional.
- This process relies on other players understanding how it works and opting into it. If most players refuse to do it then those who do try it don’t benefit nearly as much.
In the end, whether this idea is a good one or not depends on the rest of the game. It’d be annoying to find a one in a million rarity item after hours of work to then have to give it to someone else or face losing it. It’d also be pointless to have to share if most items are incredibly easy to find or their use-time is short.
Feedback. Do you consider this idea excessive or complicated? Should item ownership be outright, but players are rewarded for giving up ownership? Is this an area in which encouraging players to share and work as a team is unnecessary? Is this system detrimental?