While this has worked for generations of RPG's, its application in the world of MMORPG's has caused an unforeseen and unwanted consequence. With the loss of a thinking and adaptable Game Master, players were able to focus on this advancement to the exclusion of all else. The current generation of Computer RPGs are not about characters, rather they are about the advancement of these characters through whatever levels and skill-trees are presented by the game.

In fact, in many games, and even for players who would prefer it to be otherwise, if you ever take time off from this 'advancement' to do something that would further the other aspects of building a character, you feel the pains of 'falling behind.' If you're not constantly grinding away at that millstone, you have the feeling that you're doing something wrong..

The games are not designed like this on purpose. That's not what the developers wanted. In fact, they load the game up with content and incentives to try to counteract that impulse, but it's mostly ignored. Armchair game designers have being trying to find a solution to this problem since the 'treadmill' was first discovered in online RPGs. They have tried everything from limits on advancement rates, punishments for advancing to quickly, and bonus for not advancing. None of these efforts seemed effective, and all were quickly forgotten as the advancement train kept moving.

The next attempt is to eliminate advancement altogether. In order to keep people from spending their time gaining skill and level for the character, the game is changed so that their characters don't gain skills or levels. The character itself stays exactly the same from the first step of character creation, to the fateful day that the character is abandoned. The problem with advancement being the sole gameplay motivator is gone. It's replaced by the problem of finding a motivation to play the game.

The answer comes from a very unusual source. Zombies!

The zombies themselves are not the answer, but they present the circumstance that allows a game to not have traditional advancement. Most zombie stories are set in 'The Real World", present day mundane everyday existence. The heroes aren't great warriors, elite soldiers, or fantastic magical powerhouses. The heroes are everyday people who do their best to survive the situation. From the beginning of the story to the end, the hero doesn't gain amazing new strength or abilities. They are the same person, who, with the help of other survivors, were able to use their wits and the environment to triumph against an impossible enemy.

A Zombie MMORPG should be the same way. You create a character, and that's all you get. Through teamwork, courage, resourcefulness, and a little luck, you build a pocket of resistance. You get more capable throughout the game because you've built up a network of friends, you have an understanding of the world, and actual experience with how the zombies behave...not just a larger number in a database. That dream is the goal of this site, where I will compile the ideas surrounding a new type of MMORPG. One were building your character means making your character more interesting, not making your statistics more impressive.