Hi
So many mmorpg's tell us they are living worlds - but in reality they are hollow shells with dumb npc's that simply stand there giving out quests to the same people over and over again and ignore you when you level up past the cap for that area.
Reputation in wow just becomes something else left to grind when u reach the lvl cap! it does little other than change the price/offer new gear/kit etc.
but Fallout New Vegas combo of the rep and karma system has made me think we may be in a new age where we can actually have a world that remembers your actions,
it would also offer us the ability to RP with the mechanics of the game - not against the mechanics of the game!
I mean these are marketed as mmoRPGs yet there is nothing to gain for a player who RPs a lot other than the knowledge there is no reward and lvling may take ages and ages.
A world where the NPCs and thus by default other players [ by observing the way the world reacts to others] can remember and identify the alignment and reputation of a player will be something totally new and refreshing.
Fallout NV did something new that was missed by most the pundits in the field
just an idea
PZ
ps - please just dont copy WoW!
EDIT - it would also promote reply value for RPers, a new character could fundamentally go through the world a new way, acting and doing things totally differently War, War never changes!
Why?
Because,
'War is the continuation of politics and policy with the admixture of other means..'

you do realise FO:NV was single player right? that's why you could do things that completely changed the game world. you can't do that with an mmo. if you did something like killed an npc and it couldn't spawn again and they were a quest giver, then guess what? other people are now cut off from that content. it would be cool do do something close to it though,as in you get the karma system but important npcs like quest givers respawn. to maybe add immersion a bit the non important ones could be eventually replaced with a new npc that moves into the town or something.

well, if there was a way to 're-spawn" the kia NPC, tthen perhaps we're not SOL; Say i kill Merlin the Wizard, who's only purpose for living (?) is to give you the quest to get teh Golden Ticket to Snitch. Now you can't get to Snitch- until Merlni's assistance, Harrry, takes over the practice. Then wwhen I kill aHrry, HSI apprentice Emma takes over. It would take some extra proep in advance, but it should be able to warok.

Just make the world player controled, so that groups of players effect the alignment of borders, actually fight 'battles' that mean something, or even creating chances for players to infiltrate and kill the enemy merlin.

NPCs shouldn't be the main driving force in an MMO, but they are in most.

Fully agree. We are bored by plywood decors.
Give us a living word, that adequately reacts for our actions. Give us a world that lives without our actions. Give us a world that can be changed by our actions. That is what we love Fallout for. Excuse my bad English... I am a Russian bear, it's hard to type with claws.

Hate to bring up a rival but EVE did it and did it well.
Allowing just enough npc content to satisfy the pve crowd and then a HUGE universe of player owned, operated and fought over resources.
I dream of a living world based on a barren post apocalyptic world....
Crazy I know but it just seems it should work here most of all given the value of things we take for granted.