DESCRIPTION

Enter the brave new 28th century world of Neocron. Billed as an "online RPG/e-Community hybrid," the social dynamic in this game world is more fundamental to play than in many other MMORPGs. The player's avatar begins the game as a full-fledged citizen of the Neocron metropolis, complete with a safe home apartment. Like residents of a real city, players are free to become group leaders, warriors, simple merchants, or even street folk. Believable city rules discourage a straight hack-and-slash mentality. While a player can certainly find a tussle without looking too far, the Neocron society imposes laws against fighting or even displaying weaponry in public. All sorts of realistic life decisions are possible and they lead to realistic results. The game is aspires to provide an open setting in which players create a new world together.

As in other massively-multiplayer games, players can meet to solve quests and hunt enemies. On the other hand, they can also meet for a drink at a local strip bar and then head to the club for some dancing. Exploration of the futuristic cyberpunk city, alone or with a new friend, is meant to be a game in itself. Earn a living as a formidable bounty hunter, or as a meek merchant moving goods between more powerful entities. In the city, laws are enforced by tough NPC "CopBots," but in the wasteland outskirts players can act more as they please. By providing a rich virtual world full of authentic possibilities, Neocron allows for the creation of rich characters, as varied as the personalities of their players.

Player characters in the game develop a sort of aura called their "SoulLight," which acts as a basic measure of good and evil past deeds. When a player's character slays a villain with a SoulLight darker than his own, the player's character's Soulight will lighten. If he slays a character with a Soulight that's lighter than his own, his will darken. While this SoulLight aura is not immediately visible, it can be read by CopBots and some gifted player characters as well. Player characters with especially dark SoulLights may be considered too dangerous and banned from many civic areas. In addition to this aura, many other factors of class and behavior may influence how an avatar is viewed by other characters.

Characters are built around five basic statistics: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Constitution, and PSI. The game allows four different character classes, though these primarily influence basic skills and players are still free to develop their online personalities in any way they desire. Instead of spending general experience to buy assorted new powers, skills develop categorically as they are used. A tech wiz character who spends a lot of time using the Hacking skill will eventually increase his Intelligence level, which in turn awards points that can be used to improve Intelligence-related skills (such as Hacking). Similarly, characters who use skills requiring Strength, Dexterity, or other attributes will be able to increase their abilities in those areas. All skills are available to all characters, but class determines rates of development. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide