Let me get straight to the point: I made the game too realistic, and now the players are even more invested than I am. I'm starting to get scared.
I designed a beginner mission, thinking I'd put in two or three rats so players could get used to the controls.
Instead, the irradiated giant rats in the ventilation ducts bred until there was a nest of twenty-seven.
Player: “Holy crap! It's hell mode from the start! The dev really gets us hardcore gamers!”
I noticed the shelter was running low on power and the clones were taking too long to repair, so I added a 24-hour death penalty.
The first player to die, “Mad Dog,” got so excited he nearly jumped out of bed.
Player: “You can even experience phantom pain when you die! This game was a steal at ten grand! I hereby declare it a masterpiece!”
I saw the shelter was about to be overrun by monsters, so I had no choice but to post an epic mission with a “fail and lose your save” condition, hoping to force them to fight for their lives.
Instead, the players didn't run away. They started a crowdfunding campaign on their own and went all in on resources to arm an elite squad.
Player: “Brothers! The server whales are leading the charge, everyone else, do your best! For the open beta! Charge!”
No, seriously, could you all calm down?
People really can die in there! Even if it's not your actual selves!
Watching them charge at the irradiated beasts, shouting “For the glory of the Northern God”...
I feel like this game is going to get wrecked by this bunch of lunatics sooner or later!
It's a bit like this game and it's too real. I can only say it's a bit like it. This game feels like a story to me, and this book feels like reading a system message, like how many people were injured by killing a certain monster in a game, how many contribution points a team found in exchange for what resources they brought back, and how many contribution points they found in exchange for the indigenous survivors they brought back to build a city. There is no sense of story.