Ultima X: Odyssey Interview

The UXO Vault has conducted an interview with Amy “Morgaine” Sage, one of Origin’s designers working on Ultima X: Odyssey. Here’s a snip of what was talked about:

Q: Should Player vs Player be optional? Should players be able to force their playing style onto others?

A: No, I don’t feel players should be able to force their play style on someone who doesn’t want it – but I also think that players need to understand the dynamics of a game before playing it. (In other words, don’t create a character on an open PvP server if you don’t enjoy PvP, etc.)

In my opinion, PvP is something that both sides need to be interested in – whether that means that they’ve agreed to duel one another, or they’ve entered an area that’s designated as a PvP-enabled area, or they’re playing a specifically PvP-oriented game. All different levels of consent, but all of them are consent nonetheless.

Essentially, I don’t think PvP always needs to be optional – I just think that if it’s not an optional thing, it needs to be very clear to all players involved that that’s what they’re getting into, before they get into it.