Treatise on a Diablo Gaming Server

(Revised 06 Aug 2005)

There would be two main components: the website and a diablo MOD (with only a few, minor changes). Characters would still be playable with the unmodified game. I refer to this as "the server" through the rest of this thing, mostly because I think that is the best way to do it. It generally takes more resources than it is worth though, especially for nothing but D1.

The Website

The website would act as the hub of the server. While players actually play on the server, the site is the source for all group news, server information/updates and more. Membership of the website/group IS membership of the server and only through the website can accounts be created. Members would have access to everything in the group as well as the server while anyone outside of the group has access to none of it, including fora (that's right isn't it?! Oh gosh please be right). So how does it work?

To become a member, one must be invited to do so by a current member of the group. This puts the responsibility of having a positive gaming atmosphere right where it should be. Members should only invite those people who will uphold the standards of the group and rules of the server (stated below). After becoming a member, a short probationary period ensues where one is denied the ability to invite others to join for a specified period of time (two weeks or so). If any member is banned for violations, the referring member will lose their right to invite players to join for a SPoT (at least a month).

The first step would be to d/l the patch and server info to play. Now, remember, this game IS getting old: so to make the group more successful, members should create new characters for the server. Character saves will be in 1.09 format, but the naming convention will be changed. Obviously it is quite easy to bring in other characters, but don't. The various parts of the group will be: news, forum, strategy, character builds and guides, item find of the week (?), screenshots, member ranking system, character ranking system, user and character web sections to post character stats, and an advanced item trading system (more on this later). I know it has been done. I know there are guides here, there and everywhere. This gaming group will completely start over content-wise. I guess if players don't care to they can simply play on the server, but I personally missed virtually all of the DSF days at the battle.net forums so it'l be new to me (and others I am sure)!

Forums, strategy and more:

A la the Lurker Lounge, all of the creative content will come as a result of the forums, where everything is drafted, posted and improved. I think someone once said something to the effect of, "emulation is the sincerest form of flattery", or something like that. Well, this system works; I will just give credit where credit is due. The Find of the Week can be submitted in the form of a cropped screenshot showing an item just identified at Cain, or up for purchase, or whatever flies I guess. It is always exciting to find a really cool item and it can be fun to share that excitement with others. Screenshots are screenshots. I have always enjoyed seeing how other people play their characters, so members will have an opportunity to load their character files to the site for two purposes. One, as a backup, and two, so pages can be created for members to see how each other are building/progressing their characters. It would be nice if a script could be generated to read character data directly from the files and then build a page automatically, but unfortunately the files are encrypted and I don't know of anyone has cracked them yet. Don't worry, it will get done one way or another.

Member and character ranking:

This part is fun. It is NOT intended to be like a D2-ladder-race-to-lvl99-kill-kill-map-hacko-fest nor designed to divide the group into ranks. Instead, it will give members goals in their playing in many aspects of the game to increase interest and create a more invloved group. These goals/ranks are ultimately created and decided upon the group, my ideas are simply a starting point. Let's first look at character ranks. These indicators will give all non-variant sytles of characters goals for various aspects of gaming. Some will be ill-suited for certain classes, and others extremely difficult based on class. The idea is these indicators as a whole will reflect skill and time for any character. There are three levels a character can achieve based on the number of goals it has accomplished (let's assume there are these 7, for example): bronze (4/7 accomplished), silver (6/7), gold (7/7). The character ranks are as follows:

ironman through dlvl 4 (?)
3@30 victory
max stats
reach level 40
max spell levels (for rogues and warriors: one 14 and one 13 are fine)
completely clear any dungeon section (dungeons, catacombs, caves, hell) using no more than one belt of potions in hell mode
completely clear Hell/Hell using no more than one belt of potions
...and whatever else the group wants (there are people much more creative than I am)

As far as the hell/hell can be very difficult for mages especially, but think of the possibilty of a member writing a guide of how to do it, per chance.

Member ranks are more broad, focusing not on characters but on the members, while still reflecting time and effort.The member ranks might possibly be as follows:

Class master badge: bring a golden character to clvl 50
Ironman badge: defeat ironman through normal difficulty (any team, any size, multiplayer mode required)
Submission badge: draft and submit a strategy guide/article/etc. for publication (actual publication not required)
group badge (?): X posts submitted or something to encourage group involvement OR...
group badge (?): a majority group vote for hall of fame (see below) passes
Duel badge (?): win one organized duel tournament. Albiet bugged, it can be a fun aspect of play.
...and whatever else the group wants

For those players that achieve ALL of the member badges, they are inducted into the group hall of fame after a secret ballot vote by the group. Someone writes a wonderfully flattering tale of all their heroic deeds and all that jazz. Only the very best and dedicated diablo players will make it here. In return you get nothing :) OK, actually, I have an idea or prizes for various accomplishments but that I will reveal at a future time. Overall, I feel that these goals provide members with some added challenge to the game to encourage involvement. Ranks are not 'ranks' to place members above each other in a first, second, third place tier. Instead, a member rank page will be available for viewing which will be organized alphabetically and show which members have completed what.

Trading system:

Oh, my favorite. I have been thinking a lot about a system of trade that would be effective at minimizing twinking and being completely fair. By the way, I have no idea how the WoW auction system works, but info would be great. With this system, actual in-game trading would hurt the system more than anything, so it is generally discouraged. Instead, the system relys on a market (and the honor system :\) based on GP, or whatever kind of currency you want to create. Players may 'sell' (trade) any item they want to trade and recieve it's value of GP for it. GP is estimated by multiplying the rarity of the item (based off of the calculator) to it's price and dividing by 1000 (or anything to get nice looking numbers). The item sold is then added to a whole pool of items on the site that members may browse for things they want. Member's GP would be used to buy any item up for 'sale'. This means that if a member wants to trade for an obsidian/zodiac, they will need to find and 'sell' an item(s) just as rare/good to get it. The details of actually handing off the item can be worked out by the group but a third-person party would be involved. Obviously trust and honesty are required here, but this is a system I use between my own characters and it works wonderfully.

The MOD

Basically, the MOD will few minor changes like removing the MS and duping bugs. The naming of character saves will also be changed since new characters will be required upon joining. There will be several rules/etiquette for play framed by the group that people would be obligated to accept to become a member. Why join a gaming group where you don't like their ideas anyway? With rules everyone knows what to expect and members don't step on each other's toes. Among other things they may be:

No cheating (duh)
No PK/MK. While I do like the spice it adds to the game - it isn't very effective for a group.
Always ask about items on ground in town before tampering with
Do not clear dungeons (Laz especially) without first asking players in a game
...etc.

I keep mentioning a 'patch', but it in reality just a mod. It would be nice, though, to have a downloadable thing that makes all the changes for you in a nice small little package. The server patch includes various mods such as:

character saves use different naming convention
MS bug fix (let's end that debate)
dupe bug fix
disabling Cain's Lazarus quest speech. Instead it will always be available by talking to him
"I sense a soul in search of answers" stays. I like it. But seriously anyone who doesn't change it on your own machine.

The main limiting factor is demand. It wouldn't be successful unless there was enough players to make it fun, and enough help to make it fly (I presently can't do a fraction of it alone. I mean just look at this silly site. Those borders are supposed to be rope or something! I am serious.)