That is interesting, I didn’t know anyone felt that way about story-telling, but I massively disagree still (but you do you), if that is being like a god then so is playing with toys, playing pretend, and other children’s games. For me though I don’t choose what happens to my characters, they tell me/show me the same as toys and pretend as kids. It’s like watching movies in my head where I don’t know what will happen next. I know not everyone makes stories that way, but I didn’t realize anyone felt like a god or thought it was comparable. I also disagree, especially, due to that this is confusing because even if you actively make someone’s life or what happens or things, that’s not even what gods do, they don’t control our lives and what we do, we can petition them for help sure, and they might choose to do stuff sometimes, but that’s not much different than a human with access to a nuclear bomb choosing to set it off, they don’t make our stories, they make us and then watch our stories and help or hurt here and there like any being would. I’ve never heard an interpretation of a god being anything else except for the fates in ancient Greek religion, but even they didn’t really control it, they spun the thread; spinning thread is not a precise task, and where was the substance for the thread coming from that they spun? It’s more like they enabled the fate and spinning it into a form where it could come to fruition, not necessarily having direct control over what happens to anyone themselves.
I have heard of gods, such as the Christian god, having pre-designed what would happen before it happened, but even then, that’s not the kind of control you’re talking about. That’s pre-deciding, creating it, and then watching it all unfold on it’s own.
Being a god means you have the power to create life, the power to bless people, the power to curse people, and to do either in a very severe and intense and powerful way; it means to watch over others and be available to be petitioned, it means being able to transcend time, to be immaterial, to be material, to know knowledge that is deeper andmore complex than humans know.
I personally,in my religion, believe that humans (and animals, stones, plants, the wind, etc), as much as gods, are able to “mother” new life, which could be creating an entire world, but they are bringing it into fruition, it was created by the original Divine, and they “gave birth” to it so that everyone could see it or it could be known to someone. But that’s my personal perspective, I just thought I’d throw it in there to help you maybe interpret what I’m saying or understand where I’m coming from. I’ve done lots of research into religions around the world and was raised changing religions every couple years, (the longest and most prominent being Wicca, Buddhism, a new age religion i dont know what to call it, and Christianity but I never agreed with or paid attention to any dogma and didnt go to church and my parents didnt go to church). I haven’t heard that perspective on what it means to be a god, so I am confused, but also intrigued to know whether this is something many think and I’ve just never heard it before. Afterall, a lot of people avoid talking about religion, and I normally do too to respect that and due to the risk of being misunderstood or offending someone on accident.
Those reasons you listed for why people fear multiplayer in this type of game makes sense and I also wouldn’t want those things. I’m aware some forms of multiplayer function could do that, but have figured creating a method for a seperate multiplayer co-op option would never mean anything for single player changed, and once it was made there would be nothing else needed to be done for multiplayer, unless the coding of the game itself, or of saves, was changed, but that’s not a super frequent change done in most games I think. However I agree those issues are things I’d also want to avoid.
I see what you’re saying. I also have often treasured my sims games for the ability to fully express myself without fear of what others think. I definitely would like to be able to have that in InZoi, I treasure having that privacy in the game. It’s a style of game that can act as a coping mechanism, sometimes almost as therapy, as a break from the judgemental world, and as an escape and to feel more whole about the aspects of yourself you keep private. I wouldn’t want to lose that and don’t want a method of multiplayer that would get rid of that. I am personally looking forward to seeing how Vivaland turns out, but I just know that won’t be a game for that kind of privacy. To me it could still be fun. And for me being able to play a multiplayer option in a game like InZoi would be similar to co-creating/writing stories, as well as to playing pretend with other kids as a kid, it is still storytelling but a cooperative effort, plus allows you to be able to have a seperate game to play with your kid who won’t stop bugging you about wanting to play a game that they need supervision while playing because it’s not for kids.
By the way, I am so sorry about your experience in that writing class, that is very sad and I empathize a lot, and sounds so extreme for how minor that was. I was a kid in the 90’s and around where I live at that time was lots and lots of pro-LGBT+ propoganda (though it wasn’t called that, i forget now what it was called then, like I said I was a kid), and when my parents attended college and homeschooled me (teaching me what they learned in college and expecting me to write college-style essays in 3rd grade and bringing me with them to some classes), most of the professors actively encouraged people and instead humiliated and scolded (or worse) anyone who said or submitted anything that was negative about LGBT+ people. But that came up because a lot of people still were (and still are, but luckily not as bad back then). I hope you feel more safe now to be open about your identity. I still have issues. But I hope things get there for me too.
I see what you are saying and it makes sense, but none of those methods are what I’ve been trying to explain (and failing lol, but I’m not great at putting my thoughts into words sometimes). I agree that all sounds like a hassle and something that would distract the company from the rest of the game or simply make it virtually impossible to implement without ruining the game and basically turning it into something else.
What I’m meaning, though, when it comes to how would multiplayer work, I just don’t see why they can’t do what many other games do, like for example Sid Meier’s Civilization games, or Conan Exiles (ignoring the mmo part of it, i dont want that either so am not referring to that), where no one is joining anyone else’s game, you choose whether to start a single player game, load a single player game, or start a LAN or co-op based multiplayer game, or load a multiplayer game (but can’t do anything unless the other players are there too, some games do this, i know Conan Exiles doesn’t). There would be no need to add anything special ever again beyond just the original co-op functionality and an original, automatic disabling of all mods and DLCs that the people playing don’t have in-common, detected before loading the game.
I haven’t played Coral Island but that brief bit of info sounds a lot like what I have been meaning or trying to explain to advocate or ask for in the game.
I don’t know for sure if it would have to be, code-wise, a different type of save but I would guess that might be the case.
I also wouldn’t want it to destroy nor detract from the single player development or experience. I see. Well I do still hope it could be implemented in a way that doesn’t hinder single player in any way at all.
Yes, I am realizing more than I realized before entering this thread just how vastly different people could interpret that word, or mean by it. I mean, I knew already from forums that there was a variety, and knew about these various methods, but hadn’t seen the issue laid out so clearly as in this thread why something more specific needs to be said than “multiplayer” as that means so many different things that no one can even really know what people are even talking about without more explanation.
I really really value that you view debates like this as good and understand that I’m not meaning any offense at all, and just trying to understand others’ perspectives better and also explain mine better so just more understanding can be reached, I think that is an enjoyable and important thing in life, but I guess the way I go about it can seem threatening/aggressive/argumentative to some people (especially online since they can’t hear my tone) so I try really hard to make sure people understand that I’m just curious, wanting to know more, and wanting others to be able to understand what I’m saying and to figure out whether I’m communicating my thoughts well
Thank you for your kindness and also for continuing this discussion, as I am learning a lot and find it enjoyable, and I hope you do too
and it was my first beta-testing gig ever - TSO was AH-MAZING…until it went live.
- someone would be the manager and everyone had jobs that you could get better at - or creating the most “popular” lots (guild-like) that had a public “top list” (not to brag/totally bragging, my crew was up there for a minute ourselves 
). All of that in TSO was so, so much fun**.** The competition was a blast. Like West Side Story, with less dancing/singing but all the vibe.
Soooooooo many (naive? distracted? unaware? all the above?) parents purchased the TSO PC game for their kid and clearly did zero research on it. They were “parent of gamer kids” pioneers, lol. Also, maybe there wasn’t research readily available - or at least not in a format they were aware of yet (aol news vs actual newspaper)? But either way, the BOX TSO was physically sold in was clearly labeled with the white square logo with a “T” and said TEEN.
I was not ready.
I believe we could turn InZoi into something super special. It already is a very nice game, but with the multiplayer function and VR it would be insane. I know many VR companies and also Altspace we build worlds that worked on the worst VR headset due to the polygon limitation, but this is nanite and i don’t know tbh how vr headset react to nanite tech in UE5.5. If they still get really warm. But matter of fact InZoi would be nice in online mode! 
The chaos would be so much fun!