I posted this in another game forum, but I'll repost it here. This is one of the infinite possibilities of alternate gameplay design, more sandbox in style, that COULD have been implemented in TESO. Without wanting to discredit the game before we get the chance to at least see it in more depth, I'm somewhat dissapointed in Zenimax trying to go down the same ol' MMO road, albeit with more polish. So, this is what i had posted back in February in the forum of Ember of Caerus (WARNING: Wall of text)

Implementation of a Religion System in a fantasy MMO
The system described below is a first attempt at incorporating a Religion system within a territory/empire control system inside an MMO. Since it is not designed with a particular game system in mind, there are many loose ends/generic assumptions that could either be contradicting or non-applicable within/for a particular game system. Due to this limitation, no numeric values/ranges can be suggested without first having a clearer picture of the game system.
Also, since this has been designed without feedback/dialectic approach, many shortcomings in the design are likely to be present that cannot be detected with the colored glasses I’m currently wearing.
In any case, I consider this a starting point for further thoughts, discussion and debate.

Scope
Implementation of a Religion System in a fantasy MMO must be interpreted in terms of gameplay mechanics, and not solely as an RP element (for which, no implementation is required after all). The exact details of implementation would, of course, vary depending on the design of the MMO that it is being implemented in, and the specific core design of the engine. However, as a general approach, a Religion system should directly translate in bonuses/penalties relating to:
a) An individual player’s Devotion (key term) within a religious faction (and the resulting bonuses available).
An individual player’s Reputation (key term) within a political faction (and the resulting bonuses available).
c) A political faction’s/Guild’s Dominion (key term) within the game world (and the resulting territory controlled and available for empire building).
d) A Deity’s Influence (key term) within the game world, (and the resulting powers granted to individuals/factions depending on their standing with the Deity).

Key terms
To better understand the effect of a Religion System in the game, the following terms should be explained:

Devotion – this is a rating of each player’s standing with a specific Deity (if any is selected), calculated daily at a specific server time. The standing functions just like a reputation standing in most MMOs, with one important exception: the Devotion decreases each day by a certain amount. The only way to prevent this decrease and potentially increase the Devotion even further is for the player to perform tasks/actions available to him in the form of quests given through the religious faction representing the Deity he has selected. ). More on this and the methods for increasing/not losing Devotion, below.
A player, upon choosing (if at all) a Deity to worship must also select a representing religious faction to declare this worship. This is done at a temple/cathedral in an NPC settlement/player settlement and from that point onwards, the player is religiously “bound” to that specific temple/cathedral (read below for the effects of this binding).

Reputation – this is the standard reputation standing with a political (racial) faction. Each political (racial) faction has a Patron Deity that is formally worshipped. A player’s Devotion affects his reputation gains with the political (racial) faction they share the same Deity. Reputation gains with other political (racial) factions may be offset or even negative (for opposing Deities). The effect of a player’s Devotion on his Reputation with a faction may either be a flat out amount, awarded upon attaining variable levels of Devotion standing, OR a multiplier to reputation gains available via other means (if such a system is available in the game).

Dominion – this rating measures a political faction’s influence in the game world. Player Guild/Clan holdings (if available depending on the game system) upon creation choose the political (racial) faction they align themselves to (sharing the Patron Deity) and from that point on generate a Dominion rating for their holdings, and are in all aspects treated as an NPC settlement in terms of Dominion generated.
Dominion is calculated weekly and is local, i.e. it is calculated per settlement of each political (racial) faction or player holding. The Dominion standing of each settlement is the product of the
[Number of players worshipping the Patron Deity of the political (racial) faction/player Guild bound at the specific cathedral/temple of the faction/guild settlement] *[each said player’s daily Devotion rating]*[7 days]*[factor for religious constructs within settlement].
Dominion is manifested as a radius around a political (racial) faction’s settlements on which the faction can build constructions and have ‘control’ (think Civ3 border tiles here). In other words, Dominion is in effect measuring the borders and available territory of a political (racial) faction. A player that “unbinds” from a cathedral/temple of a specific settlement to bind to a different temple/cathedral of the same Deity is reset from the weekly calculation of Dominion for the specific settlement (i.e. Devotion rating =0*7). If he binds to a temple/cathedral of a different Deity in another settlement he not only resets but subtracts his Dominion share of points (i.e. Devotion rating*[-2]) from the Dominion of the settlement he unbinds from.

Influence – this measures a Deity’s appeal and worship in the game world, and is calculated at specific intervals depending on the Religious Calendar of each Deity (see below). The Influence of a particular deity is the product of the
[Number of players worshipping the Deity] *[each said player’s daily Devotion rating]*[x days of religious celebration for Deity’s Birth/Death.
The higher the rating, the more powers/bonuses the Deity can grant to its followers and to the political (racial) factions/Guilds it serves as Patron.

Starting Devotion, Increasing and Decreasing Devotion

A player choosing to start worshipping a Deity must do so at either a temple or a Cathedral of the particular god. This is handed out in the form of a quest by an NPC, asking the player if he wishes to be Baptized in the new religion. There are no prerequisites for the quest and no required actions OR there are pre-requisites and required actions (depending on the Deity selected, for instance, a god of murder and darkness might require special services in the form of killing x number of players/NPCs before accepting the player in the religion. In any case the quest serves as a trigger to assign a Devotion rating to the player and ‘enlist’ him in the Dominion register for the selected settlement’s temple/cathedral. Upon joining a religion, the player is allowed to perform none, some or all of the dogma-related quests, handed out by NPC priests of the faith, according to the particular god’s Religious Calendar.

Religious Calendar
Each Deity (or rather, each religious group worshipping a Deity), has milestone dates /sacred holidays within the game year that unlock quests to followers. Followers can choose to perform some or all of the available religious quests in order to further increase their Devotion. A sample Religious Calendar could have the following quest types (I’ll use a medieval Christian-based model for the examples – quests listed in random order):
? Prayer at a temple (available daily, reduces daily Devotion decrease by a small amount)
? Prayer at a Cathedral (available daily, completely offsets the daily Devotion decrease and increases Devotion by 1 point if performed twice within a week– non-stackable with prayer at a temple)
? Epiphany – marking the end of Xmas- type celebrations (awarded once each year within a particular time window – player must prepare and consume/donate x number of Food types as a token of respect to the birth of the particular Deity. Awards x number of Devotion points).
? Pilgrimage (available once a year during Easter. Player has to visit x number sites/monasteries relating to the Deity’s martyrdom and eventual sacrifice. Awards x number of Devotion points)
? Sites of the Faith (visiting certain places in the game world relating to the life of the Deity award one-off x amount of Devotion)
? Fasting (available twice a year at specific dates prior to Easter-type and Xmas-type holidays. Player must abstain from certain Foods for a period of y days. Awards x number of Devotion points). OR (Player must eat certain Food types at least once daily for a period of y days)
? Day of the Dead (available once a year over a specific time period for honoring and celebrating the dead. Player must visit x cemeteries and perform a small ritual on the site as a sign of respect to the dead. Awards x number of Devotion points)
? Kill enemies of the faith (not awarded but each kill of players worshipping Deity z grants an x amount of Devotion points) OR (awarded at specific date(s) close to the Easter-type holiday, to avenge the unjust suffering and eventual sacrifice of the Deity – awards x amount of Devotion points).
? Religious labor (available at monasteries of the religion. These quests can be simple menial chore-type quests, like farm/mine/fish/create x number of items and donate to the monastery as a sign of support to the hardships of monastic life. Awards x number of Devotion points per action performed)
? Charity (available daily – donate a small % of available bank gold OR a set amount of money OR set amount of items/food. Awards x Devotion points, increasing depending on the % /amount/# of items donated.)
? Champion of the Faith (i.e. Slay PvE monster X/Y/Z -Available after a set Devotion level (Mid/Mid-high/High) - Awards one-off amount of x Devotion points)

A casual search in the internet can result in infinite amount of ideas, based on RL religions/traditions, that could be modified to fit the lore setting of the game world and promote either player2player cooperation or player vs player contest.
The examples are indicative and obviously would have to be tampered to fit into the lore setting of the game world. I like to compare the Religious Calendar in terms of functionality to the Achievements in WoW or Tome of Knowledge in WAR, but adjusted to have an actual effect in the character progression, lore and politics of the game world.

Similarly, certain actions performed by the player would result in a decrease of the Devotion level. For the template religion presented above, actions resulting in subtraction of Devotion (other than the daily standard decrease) would be:

? Kill a player/NPC of the same Religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x Devotion
? Kill a player’s mount/pet of the same religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x/2 Devotion
? Destroy a player’s house/farm/whatever of the same religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x/2 Devotion
? Kill a player/NPC of a neutral Religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x-1 Devotion
? Kill a player’s mount of a neutral religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x/4 Devotion
? Destroy a player’s house/farm/whatever of a neutral religion (for players, if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x/2 Devotion
? Steal from a player (if not in the same group/guild) – subtracts x Devotion
? And so on…

Devotion is calculated at some point within the day. The Devotion level as registered at that particular time of the day for each player is the Devotion level used in the Dominion calculation for that day.
Benefits of high Devotion
A player that reaches certain levels of Devotion within his chosen religion could have any of the bonuses presented below, (listed in random order):

? Discount in all goods bought from merchants of the Religion/ better prices for items sold to merchants of the Religion
? X amount of Reputation added to the political (racial) faction sharing the same Deity
? X% bonus to reputation gained with the political (racial) faction sharing the same Deity
? Availability to purchase unique items (clothing/armor/weapons) from the merchants of the Religion
? Availability to learn unique skills (crafting recipes/spells/other skills) from the merchants of the Religion
? Availability to consecrate certain items for increased effectiveness (damage/protection)
? Availability to follow a career path (if applicable)/prestige class relating to the player’s chosen Religion (i.e. Templar/Paladin)
? Availability to purchase/lease land from the Church (subject to the specific restrictions of each game system used)

Increasing and Decreasing Dominion, functionality

As explained above, Dominion is a rating that is calculated “per settlement” once a week, depending on the Devotion level, number of players bound and religious constructs of the settlement over a period of seven days.

NPC settlements start off with a set Dominion rating, covering the surrounding area and expanding as more players bind to the religious institutions of the settlement. Player holdings start with 0 Dominion. Dominion can increase up to a maximum range, depending on the size of the settlement (number and type of buildings built - each building has a specific value it adds to the Dominion cap for the particular settlement).

The number/type of religious buildings built inside the settlement is added to the factor for the calculation of Dominion at the end of each week. So while a temple/shrine might provide a 1x multiplier, a Church could provide a 1.5x multiplier and a Cathedral 2x multiplier.

The area within settlement’s Dominion is controlled area by the specific NPC/player settlement. Controlled area means that some/all of the bonuses below could be available:

? Player protection (newbie protection/guards, etc) is available either automatically/on-call for hostile actions vs players/NPCs inside the Dominion’s range OR sub-range.
? Player/NPC stat bonuses are available depending on the constructions present in the settlement (Health bonus/Mana bonus/Stamina bonus, etc, subject to Building X/Y/Z being built inside the settlement). This bonus is variable, subject to the Influence rating of the Deity – read further down.
? Player settlements/houses/farms can be built inside the Dominion’s range
? Player actions that could positively/negatively affect the Devotion rating of the player bound to the specific temple/cathedral are calculated in the player’s Devotion rating
? Guard-towers/inns can be built inside the Dominion area. These serve as message beacons, informing all members bound to the specific settlement in the System Message Tab of player /monster traffic within the Dominion. In case player protection is limited to a range smaller than the Dominion, Guard towers further expand this protection up to a certain range around them.
? Other constructions (mines/quarries/groves, etc) built inside the Dominion range provide input as to their usage in the System Message Tab.
? Yield of resources is slightly/moderately/significantly increased within the Dominion range (subject to the Influence rating of the Deity.)

Dominion levels

As Dominion increases, at some point it will reach the maximum range allowed for the particular settlement.
If a rival settlement is built close to the range limit of another settlement’s Dominion, or more generally at any point the borders of the Dominion of two or more rival religions clash, the following outcome will occur:

? If one settlement’s Dominion rating for the week is higher than the other settlement’s Dominion rating by up to x points, no change occurs to the borders of the two settlements on the clashing sides. For the other non-clashing border sides, the Dominion range can continue to increase normally for each settlement subject to their Dominion rating for the week.
? If one settlement’s Dominion rating for the week is higher than the other settlement’s Dominion rating by up to x+n points, no change occurs to the borders of the two settlements on the clashing sides. For the other non-clashing border sides, the Dominion range will continue to increase for the settlement with the higher Dominion rating, but not for the settlement with the lower Dominion rating.
? If one settlement’s Dominion rating for the week is higher than the other settlement’s Dominion rating by up to 2x points, the borders of the two settlements on the clashing sides will change. The settlement with the higher Dominion will expand to a range equal to [own Dominion rating – rival religion’s Dominion rating] or, in other words, the Dominion range used for expansion will be the net result of the difference between the two Dominion ratings. For the other non-clashing border sides, the Dominion range will continue to increase for the settlement with the higher Dominion rating at its nominal value, but not for the settlement with the lower Dominion rating.

Deity Influence and functionality

The Influence rating is a measure of a Deity’s strength within the pantheon of game gods. The Influence of a Deity is the direct result of the number of players worshipping the Deity and their Devotion rating.
The Influence rating can be used to determine the level of bonuses granted for constructions built in settlements. More specifically:

? Stat bonuses given to players bound to a specific settlement depending on the type of buildings present. For example, a Library inside a settlement could give a low crafting bonus for item(s) of type X for a Deity with low Influence, a moderate crafting bows for a Deity with Medium Influence and a considerable crafting bonus for a Deity with High Influence. A shrine could have the same range of bonuses applied over the player’s Stamina (morale for defending the city blessed by their god). A smithy could have these bonuses applied to Health, etc. etc.
? If a spell system is in place, specific spell schools/spells could only be available at certain Influence levels of the Deity. The availability of those spells/schools however, would still be subject to a player’s Devotion rating within his religion, as explained above.

The Influence level of a Deity is calculated twice a year, during the religious celebrations for the Deity’s birth/death (think Xmas-type and Easter-type). A period of a few days prior to the culmination of said celebrations is used as the calculating period for determining the Deity’s Influence, based on the formula given above.