[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: POLL: Games ruined by bad players (Player killers, tank rushers etc)

[Dr. Cat]

Raph Koster wrote:
> On Monday, May 04, 1998 3:32 PM Marian Griffith wrote:
> > And what barrier there isn't a thing to do with
> > code and everything with getting to know people.

> What I was referring to was giving the *full scope* of play--so, if 
> most people are satisfied by just the roleplay, great... but the 
> building/softcode part of the play that MUSH code offers is usually 
> restricted--and it's a form of play that is very appealing.

Two different interpretations of what a question means "what are the 
barriers to entry" result in two different answers.

But what question gives us an insight that we might be best off to have 
discovered?  For me the question would be "How long is it from when they 
start checking the place out, to when they first start feeling like their 
having FUN?"

This was recognized as crucial a long time ago in the single player game 
market.  And in television.  If you get people's interest and get them to 
start enjoying themselves within the first 30 seconds, that's good.  If 
you can do it in the first 15 seconds, that's better.  The first batch of 
games from Electronic Arts in the early 1980s all did pretty well in that 
regard - once you'd waited through the load times of the slow disk drives 
of those days, anyway.  "Simple, hot and deep" were his buzzwords to 
summarize their design goals back in those days.

Most MUDs do pretty dismally in this regard.  Especially for the 
first-time player who's never played a mud before.

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MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.