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It's important to expand upon the option to simply do nothing while playing the game. Often times when players are involved in a game, they are pushed to follow an extremely linear story that allows for little or no deviation. Games like Mass Effect,  Fallout 3, or Grand Theft Auto do allow for variation in the way you choose to go about playing the game, whether it be the missions you choose to do, or the way you do the missions themselves, however they storylines within are not persistant. What I mean by that is that, if you don't do anything; the game doesn't do anything. Time may progress, but as far as options or missions, nothing whatsoever changes.

What I would like to see with Project: Renegade, is that you have the option to simply do nothing (in terms of advancing the storyline) and at the same time have the overarching conflict continue without you. Of course you could pause and stop the action while you aren't playing, but when you are just sitting around, there will be things going around in the universe of the game that you have absolutely no control over.

So you wonder, why does the option to do nothing enhance the gaming experience? Well, first there are those who don't play games to accomplish objectives. Most gamers (**** gamers in particular) get an edge, a buzz, off of completing tasks set before them. However, especially today with extremely short attention spans and the rise of the casual gamer, people aren't always on the lookout for the next mission. There are plenty of people that play open ended games just for the little things. Like blowing up stuff, or hunting animals around the game. Certainly everyone is not like this, but there are plenty among us that just like to pick up a game to have a good time more than to try to conquer and achieve something.

I'll have more on this later when I get back from chow.

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So you are probably interested how this will be implemented within the game. The plan is to have a persistant engine that controls the flow of the game based on your preference or difficulty level. If you are slow and methodical, consistant and deliberate; you will want to slow the game way down to inhibit widescale change in the country outside of your control. The engine required to control the conflict between the rebel forces and NWC would have to be absolutely massive. Simultaneously, while you are effecting the outcome, the engine will be moving the conflict between the factions ahead in places beyound your control.

Say for example you have the clock slowed down while you are amassing men for an assault on an NWC compound. While taking that base in the Northwest, somewhere in the Southeast the NWC could be achieving a major victory over a backwater rebel city without any input from you. This makes the game so much more dynamic. The game will NOT wait for you to make a move before it makes its own.

At the same time, this sort of advance will be somewhat limited. For example, you might be in control of one territory by 20 hours into the game, but the engine controlling the game will not have the NWC already conquering the entire west half of the country. The difficuilty setting will have something to do with the speed of change. The harder the difficulty, the faster the rate of change. However, at the same time, if you have chosen to be more of a double agent or mercenary, this would benefit you as you could quickly ally yourself with the faction that seems to have the most momentum. The game will require an incredible amount of planning and strategy if you choose to play the game this way.

This is not what this thread is about though. It's about rejecting this choice to be strategic, and conversely picking the best parts of the game to you and playing only them. Maybe you get a kick out of sniping. You've decked out your epic 22" barrel sniper rifle and all you want to do is rip people's heads off. Why not? So do it, and see the consequences of your actions on the factions. While not helping one or the other factions, you will create utter chaos whever you go. You will gain a reputation for exactly that, and your reputation will start to precede you whether you like it or not.