Posted June 12, 2012
I was just writing on the Summer Conference post and mentioned about the idea of a 3D virtual world GOG. I would love peoples views and ideas as I think it could have a lot of scope...
The main idea is consider a way GOG could offer something different that would encourage people to buy from GOG and avoid other companies and /or Piracy... Also to bring that sense of true ownership lost in the world of digital sales. The following would do this and I believe would be a big leap forward in digital sales.
The idea is have a possibly paid for paradise island (think blue skies and color scheme of Outrun 2 and Mario Sunshine). In this you could design you ultimate house in The Sims style but then wander around in full First Person 3D. Then you would have GOG linked into this so you could wander in a room with an old PC and actually see the games you've bought sat on the shelve. Also extras such as Posters, clothing etc could be given for the Den when you buy a game . Imagine seeing the games on the shelve, turning the 3D box around in your virtual hands then opening up and flicking through the manual.
The big thing though would also incorporate being able to buy arcade cabinets, pinball and even other machines like Amiga, CD32, Megadrive, Mega CD, Turbo GRAFX, Saturn, Spectrum, C64, Dreamcast and not just PC games and actually be able to have those machines sat in your room as well.
The 3D world wouldn't (and shouldn't) be big ... You could just have 3 locations where all the players buildings reside (the designed houses could all be contained on the same spot (multi dimensional accessed through a digit code (and or invite) in the lift.
Other areas would be a 3D GOG shop, Arcade (think Sega World like where you can even buy tokens for single plays if you want), bar area, conference venue, beach etc GOG could make extra revenue here with Video Adverts and ability to buy extra items for our Avatar (clothes, furniture) as long as cheaply priced (I mean a third cheaper than Xbox live :-) avatar stuff) I personally would pay at least.
Have extra fully interactive game items like Pool table, darts, Basketball hoop, Scuba Diving, Jet Ski, Luxury Boat, Fast sports Cars (nice to drive around), Go Kart Track, Poker set, Chess, Stratego, Paintball etc Hell you could even have bought portals to whole virtual worlds linked in you could join.
Linking the world to stored Music and Videos, books, comics on your PC in the game TV or cinema or music system would be very cool
It would be important to add in leader-boards and a Friend system (maybe choosing to access the world where you can see all, friends only or just yourself)... Also the Animal Crossing Collect-a-mania, sense of community and themed events showing based on the date (i.e. Halloween, Xmas etc). Having strewn secrets with offers or simply collectable items would encourage exploration in the world.
At the end of the day we all dream of our perfect crib and being millionaires... Games like The Sims and GTA series do so well I think because people want that total immersion and fantasy as opposed to a challenge of the game... This is why Animal Crossing was such a major hit because it tapped into this.
I appreciate I am not technical enough to know the difficulty of the above but its certainly something I would desperately love to have (maybe an indy house could build it for you especially a paid extra?) and it certainly would be a PR attention grabbing way for GOG to stand out.
I know 3D Arcade is there (but difficult to use) and Xbox tried it but it wasn't real 3D and the games were all far too old to warrant the price tag.
Anyway would love the views of people... remember I am not saying for this to replace the current Website or the direct shortcut links.. just an alternative richer way to enjoy our collection.
The main idea is consider a way GOG could offer something different that would encourage people to buy from GOG and avoid other companies and /or Piracy... Also to bring that sense of true ownership lost in the world of digital sales. The following would do this and I believe would be a big leap forward in digital sales.
The idea is have a possibly paid for paradise island (think blue skies and color scheme of Outrun 2 and Mario Sunshine). In this you could design you ultimate house in The Sims style but then wander around in full First Person 3D. Then you would have GOG linked into this so you could wander in a room with an old PC and actually see the games you've bought sat on the shelve. Also extras such as Posters, clothing etc could be given for the Den when you buy a game . Imagine seeing the games on the shelve, turning the 3D box around in your virtual hands then opening up and flicking through the manual.
The big thing though would also incorporate being able to buy arcade cabinets, pinball and even other machines like Amiga, CD32, Megadrive, Mega CD, Turbo GRAFX, Saturn, Spectrum, C64, Dreamcast and not just PC games and actually be able to have those machines sat in your room as well.
The 3D world wouldn't (and shouldn't) be big ... You could just have 3 locations where all the players buildings reside (the designed houses could all be contained on the same spot (multi dimensional accessed through a digit code (and or invite) in the lift.
Other areas would be a 3D GOG shop, Arcade (think Sega World like where you can even buy tokens for single plays if you want), bar area, conference venue, beach etc GOG could make extra revenue here with Video Adverts and ability to buy extra items for our Avatar (clothes, furniture) as long as cheaply priced (I mean a third cheaper than Xbox live :-) avatar stuff) I personally would pay at least.
Have extra fully interactive game items like Pool table, darts, Basketball hoop, Scuba Diving, Jet Ski, Luxury Boat, Fast sports Cars (nice to drive around), Go Kart Track, Poker set, Chess, Stratego, Paintball etc Hell you could even have bought portals to whole virtual worlds linked in you could join.
Linking the world to stored Music and Videos, books, comics on your PC in the game TV or cinema or music system would be very cool
It would be important to add in leader-boards and a Friend system (maybe choosing to access the world where you can see all, friends only or just yourself)... Also the Animal Crossing Collect-a-mania, sense of community and themed events showing based on the date (i.e. Halloween, Xmas etc). Having strewn secrets with offers or simply collectable items would encourage exploration in the world.
At the end of the day we all dream of our perfect crib and being millionaires... Games like The Sims and GTA series do so well I think because people want that total immersion and fantasy as opposed to a challenge of the game... This is why Animal Crossing was such a major hit because it tapped into this.
I appreciate I am not technical enough to know the difficulty of the above but its certainly something I would desperately love to have (maybe an indy house could build it for you especially a paid extra?) and it certainly would be a PR attention grabbing way for GOG to stand out.
I know 3D Arcade is there (but difficult to use) and Xbox tried it but it wasn't real 3D and the games were all far too old to warrant the price tag.
Anyway would love the views of people... remember I am not saying for this to replace the current Website or the direct shortcut links.. just an alternative richer way to enjoy our collection.
Post edited June 12, 2012 by Drisk
