Introducing: Events

Greetings DCUO Community,

We were brainstorming last night on what new elements the Daily Planet blog could incorporate and we think we might have the best one yet. EVENTS.

Wouldn't it be cool to resolve Blog and Source Roleplaying Storylines in an organized fashion? Hell, maybe there's just a Hero/Villain you've just always wanted a piece of. Before we had actual gameplay to rely on, much of what happened in Roleplaying scenarios was a debate between two people on how the story would proceed--and good old fashioned feuds were reduced to message board victories--if there is such a thing. Now that we have beta access there's a better option. LET THE GAME DECIDE. Think about it, how easy would it be to agree on a Time , Location and a set of Rules on a PVE server, flag yourselves for PVP (less interference that way) have someone impartial there to Witness it and have at it? Think about it--we have to consider the possibility that some content may get stale over time--let's proactively address it by crafting our own storylines!

The possibilities are endless. Think of the role-playing opportunities. Let's say a villain group like Chaotic Evil wants to attack the PeaceKeepers base, organizing a Major League .vs. League battle would be simple. In interviews with us, most people said they were in favor of Clan/League battles, well this is it! Let the participants establish the Rules of Engagement beforehand (Battle Parameters and the way a Winner and a Loser is determined) then? this is the best part...we'll allow participants to do battle and we'll write the Headline according to what took place. Daily Planet Reporters will essentially be Witnesses.

We think this could be alot of fun and would allow us plenty of true community interaction. Let's say a character like Catacomb (this monster: http://tinyurl.com/258nnhd ) takes a contract on a "mask" (Tremor: http://tinyurl.com/2f2ojsy ) and wants to add to his kill total. Maybe beforehand both participants decide that the battle will be one-on-one and the standard best of three. The person who wins two gets a Minor Win and decides how the Headline is written (either by them or our writers) maybe the loser can't use their character for a week. They also decide beforehand if Tremor loses he'll be badly injured, and in the ICU at Metropolis General, but Peacekeeper reinforcements will prevent him from being Killed. If the opposite happens, Catacomb will vanish from this plane of existence and it will take The Dead Tree weeks to fully heal him. but if a person wins all three matches they get a Major Win and can elect to get a Kill (Catacomb) or to magically banish Catacomb from this plane of existence (2 weeks of not using a character perhaps--we know no superhero stays dead) All of these elements will be decided on in the Rules of Engagement beforehand and will have to be agreed on by both parties.

Another example could be Deacon (http://tinyurl.com/2atg3yu) and Black Azure (http://tinyurl.com/2cdr8vu) . If you've read our blog recently, you know that Black Azure has sworn to bring Deacon to justice for nearly beating Harley Quinn to death. Could there be a better way to settle this, form a storyline and let the players resolve it than to have Black Azure come to Gotham and hunt Deacon down? Imagine the great storylines a jailed Deacon or battered Black Azure would allow--and what it would do to their former friendship. here are some elements we think are key:

PVE Server - (Thanks Catacomb!)This lessens the chance of interference by uninvolved parties. This really allows us to get the confrontation by those involved over as quickly as possible.

Best of Three - We believe this is the easiest way to determine who wins a conflict. Win Two? Minor Win. Win all three? Major Win. Battles between larger groups may have different criteria however.

Rules of Engagement - Like we stated before these are the rules decided upon before the conflict takes place. Maybe it's important for one League not to be outnumbered so they want even numbers, maybe another won't battle players more than five levels higher than them, maybe the agreement is that no character goes out of commission for an extended time (as a penalty) no matter the outcome.There's no telling what the expectations could be, everyone is different.

Reporters - While we have 8 people on staff here at the blog, we're going to need people willing to be impartial and report what took place. Solid writing skills will help here. Interested in being a reporter on one of your Alt accounts? Let us know.

No Shows - We have to be prepared for this because real life trumps the virtual one. Maybe a No Show results in an automatic loss, maybe the person who doesn't show up gets one chance to reschedule. These are the things decided on in the Rules of Engagement.

Blog Sponsored Events - Make no mistake we're going to sponsor numerous events. Maybe we'll pick a RP thread from The Source boards to play out virtually. Perhaps The Legion of Chaos will start picking off Vanguardians one-by-one, say Vicious is holding a threatening to execute a member of your League on live TV Kick-Ass style, maybe Catalan22 is defacing the statue of Superman in Centennial Park, say you're lucky enough be standing guard over an injured Batman in the hospital when the Joker sends Catacomb in to finish The Dark Knight off--again. THE POSSIBILITIES.

Player Sponsored Events - Feel free to take some initiative as well. Maybe Preemptive Strike is taking the Mayor hostage. Maybe you're going to tempt fate and see if you can cash in Carmine Falcone's bounty on The Hornet, or the one other organized crime figures are sure to put on Mid-Knight. Let's have fun with it.

Victor Writes History - Just as in the real world, the Victor gets have his version of history written. While our writers will try to be accurate if we do the writing, rest assured we'll take our cue from how the winner wants the events to be represented.

Well DCUOers, that's our pitch. Hopefully you like it. We think it will give the game tons of Re-playability, Consistency and yes even Consequences--we'll also have a true sense of community seldom seen in MMOs. Give us some feedback and tell us what you think, and by all means, forward this to anyone who may be interested that we may have missed. We have plenty of DCUO fans on email--but we don't have everyone.