In Star Citizen , one can see its roots more in the dynamic world of EVE Online than in the static one of World of Warcraft.
Chris Roberts addressed in his recent Q&A where he sees the MMO roots of Star Citizen. What games influenced him in that regard.
Roberts says he has always had difficulties with the “theme parks” like Everquest or World of Warcraft . It all feels so static: You go into a castle and kill the evil demon, and everyone else does the same. The problem from a designer’s perspective is: You can’t script events quickly enough for players to run through them.
Star Citizen wants to place the player at the center …
In EVE Online , on the other hand, players are given a lot of space to create the drama that unfolds in the world. Just like EVE, Star Citizen should also put the player at the center. It’s good if the player base is a source of action and drama.
But of course, these are not the only influences. From games like Demon Souls, they want to learn how to handle rewards. It is always a balance between risk and reward. In Star Citizen, nothing should be easily obtainable, but should require some consideration.
… and surround him with numerous NPCs
It is important to Roberts that the world should feel alive. Therefore, they have implemented the 90-to-10 rule: The players should be the main characters, but to convey the feeling of playing in a vibrant world, there will be 10 players for every 90 non-player characters going about their work. Traders will trade, miners will extract resources, and pirates will do piratical things.
All in all, they want to create a more vibrant and dynamic universe and offer players an experience like never before.
In this special, we have compared both space simulations, although one must certainly not do that:
