In this installment of my Ideal MMO series, I’ll be discussing religion and deities in MMOs, and what they can bring to the game-play.

First, we should examine how MMOs have treated religion in the past. As usual, EverQuest is probably the best example. EQ allowed you to choose your deity at character creation based on your race and class. This often gave you small faction modifier and would later allow you to use certain items restricted to follows of a specific deity. Unfortunately, the system was never really expanded upon further than this. Aside from that aspect, EQ also allowed you to kill the Gods (or representations of them at least) in their home planes, which was always cool. Unfortunately, there were little to no repercussions for killing your own deity. In fact, most all of the Gods were treated as any other raid boss would be, with no option to interact with them even if you were a follower. The monk Epic for Iksar was a notable exception to this, but I can’t think of any others.

EQ2 originally launched with the claim that the Gods had deserted Norrath, and it wasn’t until years later that they reintroduced the ability for players to choose a deity. I liked the fact that a quest was required to choose a deity, as I feel it should represent a personal journey that your character must undertake to find within themselves which deity best represents their own values. Once a deity is obtained, however, the system is actually quite shallow. You may use blessings and miracles of varying potency by using “favor”, a sort of divine currency that you gain by sacrificing items to an altar. To me, this sort of cheapens the meaning of having a deity, and one has to wonder why a deity would even care that you are tossing old rusty swords onto their altar. I think I would be more offended than grateful, personally. EQ2 also allows the player to change their deity, wheras EQ1 did not. Definitely a plus, as I mentioned in my previous post on alignment; players should always be able to change their minds, even if it takes a little effort.

So, how could it be improved?

The Ideal Religion & Deity System

Let the player make an educated choice later in his or her character’s life. Players should not have to choose a deity based on a brief paragraph at character creation. Instead, have players come into contact with the various religious beliefs that permeate the world as they explore, and offer them some introductory quests given by sects of a specific religion that don’t force them into making a decision just yet. This way, the player can get a feel for what the religion represents and see if it is something that meshes with their own characters beliefs and values. When they are ready, have them undertake a series of quests similar to EQ2 which will solidify their choice and unlock further advancement. EQ2 came close to getting this right, but failed to make the player care much about his or her choice. Most players just ask others what the best choice would be based on the buffs the deity grants them, and they choose that. Not very interesting.

Have each deity be represented by a faction. One of the main incentives to get players interested in choosing a deity would be the factions. If you read my post on reputation, you are already familiar with how this would work. Players could perform quests and tasks for a group that represented the deity of their choice, and earn rewards by advancing their reputation with them. This would allow players a concrete reason to choose a deity beyond role-playing. However, it would be important to balance the item rewards so that players do not choose a deity simply based on the rewards offered. Also, an Agnostic faction would be needed. A group who believes they owe no thanks to the Gods for their fortune, but have instead forged their own way in the world. This way, players who did not wish to select a deity for whatever reason would not feel like they were at a disadvantage.

Favor as an alternate advancement system earned through deeds. Rather than earning favor by sacrificing mundane items at an altar a la EQ2, Favor should be something the player earns through actions that their God would find pleasing. Instead of being a currency players spend to call down favors, I would make it more like an alternate form of experience, similar to AA’s from EverQuest. Players would earn this favor experience only from certain deeds, and the more they advanced the more powerful blessings the God would bestow upon them. The blessings or miracles could be controlled simply by cooldowns ranging from 30 minutes to 24 hours depending on how powerful they are. Agnostics would have to be given similar abilities based on their “free will” or some other explanation. It’s unfortunate, but it must be done for balance purposes. The system fails if any player feels punished for their choice.

Particularly dedicated followers should be able to interact directly with their God. This is a subject that always bugged me in EQ. You are able to choose a deity, and yet when you come face to face with them they are nothing more than another mob to you. While it was fun to feel powerful killing various Gods, it really doesn’t make much sense, which is why you see so many “retcons” (deliberate changes in previously established lore) and poor explanations offered by the EQ writers post-Planes of Power. Instead of this approach, I would like to see meeting your God become sort of the ultimate reward for earning reputation and favor with them. Similar to the Greek myths of old, perhaps the Gods have quests they need mortals to handle because of some strict rules that prevent them from interfering with other Gods’ plans. What better way to make the player feel like a hero than allowing them to be the chosen warrior of the Gods?

I’d also like to see a special version of the Gods’ home plane that can only be accessed by devout followers. It could have special vendors and quest givers and act as a hub of sorts for players of the same religion to meet up and possibly group for quests, and of course allow them to meet their God as mentioned above. This would be separate from the normal plane that can be accessed by all players for other purposes.

Killing a God should be extremely rare. The main deities should remain unkillable, in my opinion. It simply causes too many immersion breaking holes in the story and general logic of the game for it to work. This does not mean encounters on that epic scale can never happen, however. It could easily be a God that is threatening to break the established rules of the pantheon or some other great evil that must be stopped. Lesser Gods and Demi-Gods would not need to be selectable as deities, so these would be much easier to deal with when it comes to raid bosses. This could still give the players that sense of extreme power without mashing up the established lore too much. Of course, avatars (manifestations of divine beings in a physical form) should always be killable, but with the proper repercussions and rewards. They should also be made small group encounters (10-15 players) so that those who do not wish to kill the avatar of their own God do not need to participate with their guildmates necessarily, and could instead form a different group for an opposing avatar.

To summarize, I feel that religion should add a great amount of depth to the world, and immerse players further in its history, as well as its current inhabitants. Instead of a simple faction modifier or insignificant buff, it should be a serious facet of character customization that engages the player and gives them something extra to earn for themselves, all while solidifying what their character represents to them. The Favor system could offer an exciting diversion from the normal leveling grind for players and give them something else to work towards, which is always good for player retention. And lastly, Gods would actually feel like Gods! There’s nothing impressive about Cazic Thule in EverQuest when he can be killed by a single group. By making the main deities immortal, you solidify their place as major characters in the workings of the world and show them the proper respect. Thus, when a God is killed, it truly means something.

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Make sure to check back for the next post, in which I will discuss making the player feel like a hero – even at level 1.