Making an MMO-themed campaign?

[SangoProduction]

No, not like SAO, or Log Horizon, but like...the characters have characters in a video game in the game. I guess it would be closer to the ./hack series in concept. I'm spit-balling ideas, and I would appreciate help.

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So, what are some important points I should remember/consider for this campaign?

First off, the knowledge skills would be the character's, not the character's in-game character, knowledge of the game itself.

Second, death can probably be a lot more lenient, especially at lower levels (wherein, most MMOs don't even have a penalty).

Third, does the world outside of the MMO matter?

Fourth, the DM should specify if this is a Roleplay/PVE/PVP server, with obvious implications. If it's not a roleplay server, the players are expected to break the 4th wall, especially as the character they're playing knows this is a videogame (though the players are still roleplaying their characters who aren-...hmm, might want to stick with the roleplay server lol). Though that's not to say roleplay server games can't break the fourth wall, as the characters still know it's a game.

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Anything else I missed?

[mabriss lethe]

Third, does the world outside of the MMO matter?




If it doesn't matter, then don't ever "zoom out" that far. Keep everything that happens in the session happening in the MMO world. The players will just operate on the knowledge that it's a game within a game. you could even reskin various effects as real life intrusions. Roll up things behind the scenes as "complications." Player gets knocked off the server. A bad connection causes one player to lag for a while. Force another to go AFK for a few rounds while they go to the bathroom/cook dinner. have a character act "confused" as a cat runs across the keyboard. (don't go overboard though. just let that sort of stuff happen sporadically, maybe cribbing Mutants and Masterminds rules on the subject.

[GreyBlack]

Then, you can have the in game character make an in- in game character and...

This won't work. I get the idea; personally, I feel that all abilities have some form of knowledge around them (e.g. my knowledge of martial arts results from my training, allowing me to more readily identify martial techniques being performed, allowing me to more readily tailor my fighting style). However, pulling the players into a two- tiered game almost makes the second order game... almost feel inconsequential. Why do you want to role-play yourself playing another version of yourself playing your avatar?

If you can make all levels of the game appealing, then I say go for it. Just make sure to include rolls for the dreaded "Call of the Dinner Time".

OTOH: If you were to play it as a Matrix style thing, where there were active threats in the real world which could only be solved by going into the Matrix, that could be appealing. However, there's already a game for that: Shadowrun.

[Extra Anchovies]

If it doesn't matter, then don't ever "zoom out" that far. Keep everything that happens in the session happening in the MMO world. The players will just operate on the knowledge that it's a game within a game. you could even reskin various effects as real life intrusions. Roll up things behind the scenes as "complications." Player gets knocked off the server. A bad connection causes one player to lag for a while. Force another to go AFK for a few rounds while they go to the bathroom/cook dinner. have a character act "confused" as a cat runs across the keyboard. (don't go overboard though. just let that sort of stuff happen sporadically, maybe cribbing Mutants and Masterminds rules on the subject.)

)
I'm in agreement with mabriss on this one - playing characters who are playing characters in a game isn't going to be all that different from playing characters in a game where in-character metagaming is permitted/encouraged.

Also, I can't help but be reminded of this xkcd (https://xkcd.com/244/):
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tabletop_roleplaying.png