14 DAY TRIAL // Salem is one of the most eccentric takes on the MMO genre set to launch during this year, and the development team at developer Seatribe is adding permanent death for the characters in the game in order to persuade players to engage in deeper role playing.
Björn Johannessen, who is the creative director working on the MMO RPG, told Massively that, “Permadeath prevents griefing more than anything else.”
Even when the player is not logged into the game, his character can be tracked down and punished for the most serious offenses, like violent crimes, and, sometimes, the punishment will be actual in-game death.
Johannessen added, “When you commit a serious-enough crime (e.g., murder, theft, vandalism), you leave a little clue behind that other players can use to track your homestead. If they reach the homestead, the clue can then be used to summon you (i.e., the offending character) into the game for some dispensing of justice.
“Basically you shouldn’t be running around killing people unless you can protect yourself.”
Salem is set in a fantastical version of the New England of the XVII century, and players will take on the role of a new arrival from the Old World who tries to remake his destiny in America.
Crafting will be a core element of Salem, with players able to create the tools they need to prosper and options to engage with alchemy and the black arts.
The developers at Seatribe are creating a rich world for gamers to explore, complete with fantasy monsters and supernatural powers, but most of the player interaction will be with other gamers, trying to find out their motives and then engage in Player versus Player battles.
Salem was initially announced in early 2011 and was supposed to be launched as a free-to-play game before the end of the year, but the development team now says that an open beta will first be introduced in the coming months.