Neocron hacking and Anarchy online cyberspace - did it work out for you

[element_of_void]

I read about neocron and hacking when they planned to release neocron 2 (which turned into an addon if I remember it correctly) and the concept did sound promising. When I checked f13 for threads about neocron and hacking, it sounded like puzzle pirates or even worse. Then someone mentioned Anarchy Anline and their cyberspace. I didn't play AO for more then 2 or 3 days, so I don't know what that cyberspace is about.

I read lots of good stuff about hacking, the HackNet did sound like a new world to explore. (It did sound like Shadowruns Hacking which I always liked)
I found this video of HackNet on youtube. Looks like tron and the matrix on speed or something.

Did you play either Neocron or AO and how did you experience hacking, the HackNet and cyberspace? What did you await and what did you get.

[Vodos]

We had some fancy ideas for HackNet, but since our team was very small and time was limited, the end result wasn't all that great. You basically switch over into cyberspace levels where you use cyberspace weapons to kill cyberspace mobs. You could navigate through these levels to reach the servers of the different factions, where you'd steal stuff (research/crafting plans and some other stuff I can't even remember). You could also go to outpost servers and disable their security systems/take them over in the "real world".

[element_of_void]

*edited to remove stupid talk of mine*

As I said before, I liked hacking in shadowrun and this actually sounds much like it was in the pen&paper game. Back then I decided against starting neocron because of my limited time and job and stuff. It's a pity it ended up as something that only could have been great.

Do you think - properly implemented - such a sub game in the actual game (a virtual world in a virtual world) could work out for everybody? I mean I like the idea of hackers as in a roleplay party but in an mmo I think it might be completely different. I mean you actually have to design kind of a whole world only for one skill/class in the game. This takes lots of recourses (as I think you know well enough) and results in good content only for a small subgroup of the player community or, if done to well, might as well result in to many hackers.

I am still interested in more answers on hacking and the cyberspace in AO and neocron. How did you expect that element of those game to be and how did it feel. How could it have been improved and so on.

[Xilren's Twin]

I'd say your starting to head the armchair developer route.  There's a forumn for that 

But in terms of having different play types/game types within one virtual world wrapper, it's certainly doable and has been done.  Think space combat added to SWG, or even ship to ship combat vs melee in PotBS.  Im sure there are plenty of other examples.  What you are specifically asking about with the whole seer concept sounds unweildy because you want direct affects in one play type hitting the other real time.  Not saying you couldnt do it but it adds many more problems like the questions you asked, when if you made them total seperate areas with limited impacts on each other would work just as well.

[element_of_void]

damn, I never know when to stop. Let me edit that last post a bit. I don't want to start a new discussion about what could be done but about existing sub-games and how they work, what went wrong during implementation or when players actually came into play.

[Slayerik]

I didn't do much of it, but I found hacking in Neocron to be a cool little mini-game when taking over an outpost. What I liked better was the actual Outpost battles, some of my fondest PVP memories ever, in any MMO. That shit was intense. At risk was reputation, weapons, implant damage, etc. Some people give NC shit around here, but it had a lot of stuff going for it.

[Count Nerfedalot]

The only thing resembling cyberspace in AO that I'm aware of is "The Grid".  Which is basically just a zone with various ramps and platforms connected together and floating in blue nothingness.  The platforms have portals to the various cities, and you are restricted to which portals you can exit the Grid through by your skill in whateveritwascalled that let you get in in the first place.  So basically just a telehub that could only be used by a single class.

le shrug

There was nothing resembling hacking in AO that I recall.  But I'm older than anyone else here is willing to admit to, so I forget stuff a lot.

[5150]

Yeah there wasnt really 'hacking' in AO in the traditional sence.

The Fixer class could get access to the Fixer Grid through an insane quest (had a friend who managed the first part) but it was essentialy the same as the regular grid with way more exits, anyone could enter the regular grid given enough Computer Literacy skill (CompLit), the only other 'hacking' the Fixer did was the summon armour/weapons/ammo nanos (spells) which according to the fluff was the Fixer 'hacking' a grid feed or somesuch.

Neocrons hacking was actually pretty cool. You played Paradriod's takeover game to gain access to whatever you were hacking with the difficulty and number of nodes determined by your rank (level) and hacking skill IIRC. You either hacked open items for loot or hacked into the respawn/teleport terminals to get access to 'HackNet' which was essentially just another set of dungeons with different weapons/mobs where you could travel around the game world digitally and (as mentioned above) get access to some otherwise unobtainable stuff (as long as you were the spy class)

The disapointment for me with Hacknet was that there was no loot [in the lower level bits I could use] and the mobs had a nasty habit of backing off over the huge drops (they didnt fall) so you couldnt hit them but they could still hit you).

It all seemed kinda pointless unless you were already a high rank from the 'normal' game world (I found it very difficult to level in hacknet, but then after the nerf/change to Agressor Captains it was hard to level anyway!) it was also bloody huge in there (regardless of your entry point you started in the same place) and there were no shortcuts (like the subway/teleports you get in the real world)

[damijin]

Im not sure the total point of this thread or my own post in it, but the only "hacking" I've ever done in an MMO is pointing my REK at a door in Planetside and watching the red laser lights magically disable it's security. Makes you wonder why there were locks at all in that universe! Kind of a cool mechanic though honestly. You had to choose if you wanted a REK, a pistol, a medical gun, or an armor gun in your pistol slot(s), and making that choice added some strategy and teamwork. Plus it made it so MAXes couldnt infiltrate bases by themselves without help from infantry. Honestly, now that I think about it, thats a pretty damn good use of hacking in terms of game design!

However, it had nothing to do with cyberspace, tron, or anything cool and Rez looking.