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What about a hack of Mordheim where you take part in rebuilding Mordheim instead of fighting in the ruins?
 This idea occurred to me as I pondered what to do with some Mordheim related material that I had "loaned" (as in, dumped) to my friend. Mordheim being the fantasy skirmish miniature game by Tuomas Pirinen and published by Games Workshop.
The idea originated when I thought about what else could I do with the ruined buildin models that come with Mordheim. I wouldn't like to try to design another kind of miniature battle game as it would be probably in vain. Another kind of game using the ruins sounded like the way to go.
(Sideremark: I cannot picture myself playing Mordheim anymore in the near or more distant future as the game seems to require more room and time than I currently have to spare or figure to have in the future. In addition to that the main attraction of the game is that it simulates the battles quite entertainingly and watching interesting stuff happen is the main attraction. This kind of entertainment takes time and as other aspects of the game seem kind of unelegant compared to "euro" board games or "indie" rpgs there isn't really that much to draw me towards playing again.)
From ruins, there was only a small imaginary step towards the current situation in Gaza and the massive rebuilding work that is necessary for the people there to survive. This made me think about what would happen if the robbing gangs in Mordheim were forced or drawn to try to live in the ruins of the city. They would need to build shelter, acquire a source of clean water and food in order to think any needs of higher order.
The differences between cultures and races could provide more variance and interest to this scdenario. Different factions would have different advantages in rebuilding and working together would be a must for everyone to prosper. The chieftains of different factions would need to use diplomacy and politics to balance the needto co-operate and manage the moral of their underlings who could still bear grudges against factions they fighted just a little while ago.
The next logic step was to ponder if this kind of game could work as a (M)MOG (massively multiplayer online game). The focus of this MMOG would be in rebuilding and co-operation as well. This idea was influenced by the FreeMarket role-playing game by Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen, of which I heard via the newest Independent Insurgency podcast. FreeMarket has a mechanic that seems very promising: the co-operation between characters brings bonuses that seem unreasonable, but the point of the whole mechanic is indeed to promote co-operation.
I would think that this kind of MMOG could interest players as well as keeping them hooked. Who wouldn't want to be a part of (re)building something grand, maybe getting to make important decisions in the process?
When you are talking about MMOG's there's always the question of technology which pops up, especially about the visual style of the game. WOuld you need the latest 3D engine for this game or would a 2D isometric one be enough? Could it be reasonable to build a demo on top of a text-based MUSH-environment first? In the recent days, there has been a discussion on Story Games on what kind of MMOG should a story game MMOG be (including the technology side). I would think that visual representation would have some value in the rebuilding game, but I'm not quite sure how much. The pondering will continue :)
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