Shopping in a warzone

My parents said "Can you or Dan collect the shopping when it's delivered tomorrow?". We got talking about Tesco's online shopping, (boring, you say, Tom Francis?), and I suggested their system should be a first person 3D environment, where you could walk around and choose your items. I thought "actually, wait a second", then said "and every item should be a physics object! And you're given a bat! And you can demand that NPC attendants do things for you, really curtly. Or order a whole stack of deli meat at the counter, and then kart it around on a trolly, throwing random bits at passers by and running the rest of it into the ground with the wheels of your wagon of chaos as you speed it across the now deserted isles! Yes!" Dad was unimpressed further than the 3D environment idea. To which I responded "C'mon! The actions social pressure prevents, now deliciously plausable with pixel shading 3.0 and glorious ragdolls!" Not in those words, but regardless, neither of them were even slightly intrigued.

Well, its not the most original idea ever, but a small, detailed environment with a moderate number of sandboxy, user devised anarchic experiences to be had, Postal style, would certainly appeal to me. I got thinking about how to increase the longevity of a game like that, (Postal 2 is glorious, for about 45 minutes). Multiplayer is one option that springs to mind. Then I thought about what would keep people coming back, even if it was a larger scale, maybe retail park themed MMO.


Postal 2 - gets old fast.


So how about a game that has real, practical links to the world. How about if to do your shopping, you could enter this gang based, territorial urban wasteland, with clans and avatar customisation, voice-over-ip and melee weapons. Try to run independant super markets by day, sabatage other people's and destroy their trade routes by night. ...Well, maybe not the day part, I think a "supermarket tycoon" game might just destroy any remaining realistic hope in this industry.

I'm serious though. If you had to join the server to do your shopping, this grimly exciting, expansive, high detail world would be routine, and necessary. Gaming is no longer pointless timewasting! Set up ambushes, run for gang leader, aaaand pick up this evening's groceries!