If you saw yesterday's weekly update you noticed that one of the suggestions they responded to was a "never ending game mode", something similar to Planetside from the sound of it. Frame said he liked the idea, but expressed concern at the "tech limitations".

Now, for me, I'm very interested in an open world style of game, the potential for which is literally the main thing that separates DUST from all the other FPSes, none of which I have any interest in playing. I propose, then, an instanced method of open world play.

First: what is an instance? Some of you may not be familiar with how multiplayer games, especially RPGs, handle this kind of thing. The most common form is in MMORPGs, where one group will enter a dungeon and then another group shortly thereafter will enter the same dungeon but the monsters are still alive and the first group is nowhere to be found. An instance is something like making two copies of the same document. In EVE instances are done by creating deadspace pockets that a player warps to. The interesting thing about instances in EVE is that they exist in the game's overall world, and can be scanned down and entered by anyone.

How does this translate to DUST? Well, there are a couple ways that it could be done, but the way I would do it is by first creating an entry-point to the planets. This might be limited to somewhere under the customs office, or there could be other landing areas. When you arrive on planet you are placed somewhere in that instance. There will be a certain set of known instances you can travel to from there, such as cities, known major mineral deposits, or significant landmarks. Accepting missions, possibly including our "instant battles", would generate an instance you can travel to. Instances can also be found by using scan probes, not unlike in EVE, or you could pick a random place to travel to to make a "safe spot" in a simple empty map.

Now, I said "travel" a lot in that paragraph, and an astute reader would be wondering what I meant by that. This is not a trivial issue. In EVE "travel" between instances is done via warp drives. We could assume that vehicles (perhaps only air vehicles?) have some sort of planetary warp drive, allowing them to travel more-or-less instantly between remote parts of a planet. Alternatively, we could use the warbarge to hand-wave fast travel. Simply pop onto your neocom and say "go to bookmark" and then you orbital drop in there.

You may at this point be asking "what happens if I die in one of these instances?". Well, obviously you'll respawn in a new clone in a CRU. But where? Well, the hand-wave solution mentioned above give us the option of respawning on the warbarge and orbital-dropping in again. If not, the question becomes more complicated. Did you bring a CRU, or mCRU equipped vehicle, with you? You could spawn there. If not, respawn at some town or base or whatever and travel back to your instance. I rather like that idea because it creates the capability to "win" the field by eliminating your opponents' ability to respawn on the field.

So, what does this offer?

1. Possibilities for PvE, industry, and even player owned structures/sovereignty.
2. Non-consensual PvP. One of the core premises of New Eden, the ability to gank, is essentially non-existent under a match-making PvP system. Fair fights? Feh.
3. An open world system that can be implemented using principles of the discrete match system, making the transition significantly easier.

What are the detractors?

1. Max occupancy of instances. If the game can't handle more than 32 people in a game at a time, and EVE fights have been known to hit four digits, what happens when me and my several hundred friends all decide to hit the same instance at the same time?
2. Implementation is very non-trivial. Even with this being an easier transition than persistent world I doubt we'd see this any time in the next 12 months.
3. Spawns on instances could be tricky. "Gate camping" would be even worse than in EVE if they aren't done right.