This is more of a brainstorming exercise, if anything. Us folks intrigued by Destiny don't have much to go on and Bungie doesn't even seem to know what it's plan with Destiny is most of the time. Seeing that this is a 10-year plan, they best be solidifying that around now. So basically, I'm going to present some ideas on how to put this concept of an interesting, evolving world Bungie is going for into practice. Anyone feel free to add new ideas or discuss ones already given. Here I go: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Calendar and Time Based Elements[/b]: Change and eventfulness is the primary factor of creating a world that stays interesting over time. However, we can't expect Bungie to be making manual, seamless changes 24/7. By that taken into account, perhaps Bungie can introduce some sort of system that changes the world and adds events over time. Applications for this involve things like time of day, weather, real-world holiday festivities, ect. It would save Bungie a lot of worry setting all this stuff up ahead of time and then have it scripted to input into the servers and game at a certain time. [b]An Ongoing Campaign[/b]: Bungie already appears to have something like this in mind. A close example I can think of is Spartan-Ops in Halo 4. Every week a new chapter of the campaign was released, keeping an ongoing story to keep players coming throughout the game's lifespan. It's just an example, I'm not saying Spartan-Ops is the perfect model to go off for this kind of idea. It's good to keep expanding on the storyline and lore of the setting. [b]Emergent Events[/b]: Some games that do something like this off the top of my head are Guild Wars 2 and Fallout 3. Basically, you go around the world and sometimes a special event will pop up in an unscripted location and give you the option to confront it. If you participate in it, you will be rewarded. [b]Changing Conditions[/b]: It's a big galaxy filled with intelligent, space-faring creatures with amazing technology. So why should the Vex only be on this one planet all the time? Can different factions create temporary alliances? Can they try to occupy each others' main worlds? I think it would be a good idea to have locations and enemies change paradigms from time to time. [b]Player Economies[/b]: MMOs do this all the time. Players can buy, sell, and trade loot with each other as they see fit. Players can put out things they don't need to sell which are basically their own virtual shops. Other players have the option to search among other players' offers to find for something they're looking for and buy it. This helps keep players engaged with the game's various progression systems by offering an evolving economy that offers new weapons, armor, and such all the time. [b]Evolving Enemies[/b]: The creatures you'll be fighting are every bit as part of the world as anything else. And the combat will be the primary back-bone of what drives Destiny's enjoyment. And after 100s of hours, if the enemies don't change, combat can become stale. This is basically how I felt about the Covenant by Halo: Reach. It only benefits the game to add new enemy units and tactics over time that force you to change the way you fight, especially if such elements aren't too diverse begin with. [b]Deep and Varying Opportunities for Player Progression[/b]: Loot, leveling, customization. These are things that keep players coming back for years. A game like Borderlands adds years to its lifespan by randomizing loot and offering skill trees and increasing level caps. I'm not saying Destiny should copy it, but it's a good instance of this in practice. [b]DLC and Expansions[/b]: Sometimes, there's just stuff you can't create without substantial effort and time that calls for a dedicated release. Extensive add-ons that add new elements to the game or even alter existing ones. It should go without saying how this works with keeping players engaged to a game with fresh experiences, so I'll spare you the details. [b]Content Uniqueness[/b]: With big and ambitious games like this it's tempting for the developers' to reuse a map and give it a different name and put another type of enemy in there. It's easy to paint a gun purple and call it a totally new weapon. I'd like Bungie to stay away from this kind of rehashing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, there's a few of my raw ideas. Some of them may or may not tie into each other. It'll be interesting to see what Bungie ends up doing. Feel free to contribute whatever you like to the discussion. Heck, maybe Bungie might take notice of our ideas for all we know. What can Destiny do to hold your interest and keep you coming back? Any other games you'd like Destiny to take inspiration from? What would be effective methods to make such ideas easier to implement for Bungie?