Communication in MMORPGs should be essential, but anonymity and silence seem to be becoming more prevalent – for example, through automatic group searches in games like WoW. Here, Chronicles of Elyria aims to change that.
Often you don’t even know who you are playing with. Through Group-Finders like the LFG tool in World of Warcraft, players find each other for activities. But who are these people? Usually, communication is then limited in a dungeon to the essentials: What needs to be done, how does the group proceed, who does what… This happens through voice chats or text chats. Once the instance is completed, everyone goes their separate ways.
Talk to each other!
In Chronicles of Elyria, it should be different. Here, communication plays an important role. And this happens in various ways:
- The developers support “in-character chat” and provide you with options to behave like your hero, to which others can then respond. This is meant to promote role-playing
- Everything you say can be heard by players nearby. Of course, it’s possible to whisper or shout, which decreases or increases the distance at which others can “hear” you
- With family members, you can communicate separately through a special connection. For instance, you can send a distress call to a family member when no one else can help you
- When you meet other players for the first time, you won’t know their names, what guild they belong to, or what class they have. You need to find that out before it is displayed to you
- You can also choose to remain anonymous if you don’t want others to recognize you. If you wear a hood in the game, other players will not be able to recognize you
- It is still possible to disguise yourself and take on other identities. You can do this by dressing up or using fake documents. This way, you could act as a spy. However, there is always a chance that you will be discovered, which has consequences
Rumors can destroy kingdoms
Communication also plays an important role in another way. It is possible to provide NPCs with information that they then pass on to other players. This can be important information but also fake information. These will spread throughout the game world, leading to things like marriages breaking apart or entire kingdoms becoming unstable due to rumors.
Rumors also play a role in the crime system. Guards may keep a closer eye on you and search for evidence of a crime if they hear a corresponding rumor about you.
Learn languages
Moreover, language is very important. You need to learn different languages in order to understand them. You start with the basics, which you continuously refine until you master the language well enough to even cause harm – such as through rumors.
In this way, communication is a very important tool in the extremely ambitious MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria. However, how well this works in the game will remain to be seen.
Even though the developers of Chronicles of Elyria have faced some setbacks, they continue to work on the ambitious MMORPG.
