Earthrise developers seeking community input on alts
Earthrise is an indy-developed science fiction MMO on the way from Masthead Studios in Bulgaria. The developers have stated that Earthrise will be a sandbox game, with a large part of the player experience based on what guilds try to accomplish in the post-apocalyptic setting of Enterra. Given this emphasis on player-driven content, Masthead Studios has been running a Community Consensus over the past few weeks where the devs seek input from Earthrise fans on various aspects of the game's design.
Today Masthead Studios wants to hear what the community thinks about alts. In most MMOs having extra character slots is expected, but alt play in a sandbox game where players will engage in espionage could get out of hand. Would the ability to easily for any player to create a cell of spy alts unbalance the game, or should there be a tight limit on character slots per account?
The issue goes beyond spies though, as there are plenty of less deviant uses players might have for alts. Earthrise Community Manager Moll writes, "In Earthrise, you can (with a bit of work on your part) learn all the skills in the game, and at present your skill progression is not inhibited by how many skills are known. With multiple characters, you can have the opportunity to support various styles of gameplay, such as roleplaying, making spies, or characters that have a more refined skillset than your 'main' character (this is Earthrise, it is up to you, and we know you probably can think of more uses)."
What's your take on this -- should Masthead Studios curb the use of alts, or will it be better for players to explore multiple playstyles in Earthrise?
