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I look closely at the markings scribbled on the cobblestone at my feet. They read “goblin ambush ahead”. I clench my shield tight and slowly head into the darkness.
This message was most likely left by a warrior having a far worse day than myself. One who managed to crawl away from this ambush with a sliver of his life only to warn future adventurers. I will probably never meet this soldier, or even care much when he meets his inevitable demise; but his kind message made an impact. His terrible day had an effect on my, now, slightly better one.
What makes this multiplayer interaction in Dark Souls so interesting is how relatable it is to our own lives. Suprisingly, most of us don't run around screaming racial slurs and shooting each other in the face. But we do interact with people we don't know, and with people we will never meet. A post-it note left on a dryer at the washateria that reads “no heat” tells the tale of a distraught woman who maybe had to run to the convenience store to buy a pack of gum, make change, and race back to dry her wet clothes quickly enough to make it to work on time. Thankfully, she was nice enough to write a message letting everyone else know not to use this dryer. And now her less than stellar day has made someone else's slightly better.
Similarly, a blood stain in Dark Souls is not much different than a tragic news report. While we are often unaffected by the fate of the unacquainted victim (sometimes even finding it entertaining), the event will certainly help decide which parts of town we avoid at night. Dark Souls' approach to multiplayer is effective because of its relatability. It's an effective representation of how the actions of strangers affect us; and how our smallest choices can change the lives of others.
So when Ubisoft debuted Watch Dogs, a modern-day hacker game with multiplayer connectivity, at E3 this year, I became elated. The presentation ended with the suggestion that players will be experiencing their own story in the same world as other player controlled hackers. And while we have no confirmation of what the multiplayer component to Watch Dogs actually is, I'll tell you what it should be – and why it would be groundbreaking.
In short, Watch Dogs should use the Dark Souls “single-player experience on a multiplayer server” model. Players should still experience their personal stories with all that hacking goodness shown in the Ubisoft demonstration; and actions like disabling nearby cell phones, disabling traffic lights, and hacking into bank accounts or ATMs are all really cool actions that make a hacker feel powerful. But in a connected world similar to Dark Souls, the results might not always be so positive.
What if when driving to a mission, you get stuck in traffic due to a multi-car pile up? What if you log into your Watch Dogs game and your character has no money in his account? What if your phone mysteriously dies in the middle of an incoming mission objective? Now suddenly your actions have weight. They affect others. And the actions of others affect you. That multi-car pile up may have been used as a simple distraction for one player; but for you, it's mission failure.
Instead of relying on silly binary choices with no real consequences, a morality system will evolve naturally out of the effects of these very relatable interactions. Now we are letting real emotions dictate our actions. We choose to be good or bad because it affects other people, not because we are trying to see the “good” or “bad” storyline. It's why we don't keep the wallet lying on the sidewalk. Or if we do, it's why we can't sleep at night.
Demons Souls and Dark Souls are groundbreaking in the ways they connected our single player experiences. And if the team over at Ubisoft is truly implementing a similar multiplayer philosophy for Watch Dogs with this even more relatable modern setting, I think we might see the first real morality “system” that actually works. Let's just hope it still has lots of neck stabbing. Because we all love neck stabbing.
Comments
11 years, 10 months ago
I had the same idea first time when I saw the gameplay demonstration but could't thought of anything good. Brad's ideas sound great, lets hope they are similar to those.
11 years, 10 months ago
From the bits and pieces of quotes from Ubi employees, my guess right now it that is a world multiple players are playing in at the same time, but all on their own objective, their own missions. The fact that they might sometimes interact just by coincidence is what excites me the most, instead of forcing players to interact with each other. As you have pointed out though, this multiplayer system that we know little to nothing about is just one reason why Watch Dogs comes out of nowhere to be on the top of people's watch lists.
11 years, 10 months ago
Sounds cool to me. I always liked the way Dark Souls and Demon's Souls handled that sort of multiplayer interaction, even if it was done in such a subtle - almost unnoticeable - way.
11 years, 10 months ago
Or your in a building and the power to that entire block gets cut off.
This game has a lot of potential.
11 years, 10 months ago
Unfortunately, as fun as this would be, I highly doubt they'll implement these types of ideas. My hope is for this game to have some sort of hacking wars with other players online. The possibility of two teams trying to complete an objective with a hacker trying to open new routes or hacking security, while an opposite hacker was trying to prevent you from doing any of this.
Sadly, my idea wouldn't be anymore likely than this.....but it would be amazing.
11 years, 10 months ago
That sounds like an amazing idea for a game, and I would buy it in a heartbeat. However, there's one thing you, and Nintendo (looking at you Miiverse) should remember; people are dicks. That's why there are moderators for every website. That's why comments can be edited and/or deleted. In the real world, the game that you described (even if it is what Watchdogs turns out to be) would be full of people doing things like causing accidents and draining bank accounts simply to irritate others and block their progress. Gamers would do everything in their power, use everything at their disposal to force other gamers into constant no-win situations. Not all gamers would do this of course, but remember, some people just want to watch the world burn.
11 years, 10 months ago
Very well written article with a great idea, but unfortunately other gamers' reactions will not be as eloquent as yours. I think in theory this would be an incredible multiplayer experience but as others have mentioned in the comments it would need a lot of official surveillance to make sure people aren't being bullies or bullied. Perhaps if there was an option to set up your own world with friends you are familiar with it would be a less hostile atmosphere!
11 years, 10 months ago
Nice article. This sounds like a great idea, if they could do it right. The only problem i see is so many people would be trying to hack things that a moment wouldn't go by without a traffic jam or your phone dying, unless they make it so that only a few people are in the same area at any given time. Also, i can see people griefing a lot by constantly causing traffic jams and what not. Hope to see more articles from you brad.
11 years, 10 months ago
Well a constant server connection could be more DRM for UBI, so that might happen. Let's hope they payed attention to the Soul's games enough to implement the idea.
11 years, 10 months ago
I think that kind of system would be too far offset by people being dicks on purpose or just not giving a shit that their goofing-off/rampage could mess up other people.
11 years, 10 months ago
Don't have much to say, but this article was amazing man.
11 years, 10 months ago
As long as it doesn't involve other players entering my single player experience and screwing it up, I'm fine with tidbits of multiplayer in my singleplayer. Who knows what type of integration we'll see in future titles, due to the prevalence of internet connectivity. We don't need bland, boring deathmatch/hoard modes tagged onto every game. Hopefully more developers can come up with creative ways of melding online into their projects.
11 years, 10 months ago
Avery unique idea one that would definitely make Watch Dogs a better experience. However I simply do not see Ubisoft implementing this idea at all.
11 years, 10 months ago
I completely agree Brad. When I first saw this on stream, I nearly sharted my pants when I saw that it would be multiplayer at the end. This game is going to be amazing, and those ideas, if implimented could prove for very significantly diverse, but interesting results. I'm eager to see where this game goes for sure. And to an earlier comment about the gamer trolls of society, I'm almost positive that this game won't be COMPLETELY multiplayer. For those that simply wish not to play with others or those who don't even possess online compatibility to begin with, I'm almost positive there will be an offline/private mode. Much similar to Saints Row: The Third.
11 years, 10 months ago
So, it's UPLINK meets Dark Souls..
11 years, 10 months ago
Great article, needless to say, Im very excited to find out more about watchdogs.