[MUD-Dev] Commercial value of RP

[Brandon Cline]

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997, Travis Casey wrote:

> Jon A. Lambert <jlsysinc at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> >On 29 Dec 97 at 13:39, JC Lawrence wrote:
>  
> >> Something that just struck me is that all the commercial
> >> representatives we have on the list seem to espouse their games as
> >> being RP games, and discuss their values in terms of the RP values
> >> generated by their games.
> >> 
> >> Is this valid in a commercial sense?  What are its origins?
> [much cut]
> 
> > I do believe Ola hit on this directly or around the edges. :)  
> > If you can pick up a sword, cast a spell or fire a phaser, the game will
> > likely be marketed as a role-playing game in a commercial sense.
> 

[ snip ]

> 
> Now, a personal opinion:
> 
> I believe that any well-designed, realistic mud will make a good 
> environment for roleplaying.  To explain why, let me first give my 
> definition of roleplaying:
> 
>  Making decisions about how your character will act based on the 
>  character's personality, rather than on such bases as what will give
>  the most advantage in the game or what must be done to win the game.
> 
> Well-designed muds can be played in this way as a consequence of the 
> fact that they are multi-player games.  Since they are multi-player
> games, there must be multiple activities available for characters;
> multiple goals to choose from, if you will.  This means that players
> can choose which goal(s) they want their character to pursue -- 
> which further implies that that choice can be made on the basis of
> the character's personality.
> 
> This stands in contrast to single-user RPGs; most of these have only
> one overall goal for the game.  If a player decides that his/her
> character would not want to accomplish that goal, there's nothing else
> to do in the game but waste time.
>

Not to repeat JCL's point, but using Travis's opinion of
what "role-playing" is, is "that" a viable comercial pursuit?  The
comercial RPG games atm, seem to have the ability for "role-playing" but
in a competitive game, where possibly the players are paying by usage, or
advancing through time spent, are they going to be willing to put forth
the extra effort to "role-play" and/or is/will the game reward the players
for role-playing?  Basically, if the game can be played without
role-playing, how will you get the people to role-play.  Also, if not
everyone is willing to role-play, how do you keep the ones that don't from
detracting from other peoples ability to role-play within the environment?

  In approach to some of those questions, I agree that first off, a
realistic and well designed, interactive world/environment is a must,
either that or a very flexible world structure like some of the Mush/muse
etc bases.  


Brandon L. Cline      |      Imagination is more important than knowledge.
brandon at sedona.net    |                                -- Albert Einstein