[MUD-Dev] User centered?

[Marc Bowden]

On Thu, 08 Apr 1999 23:12:26 +0200 olag at ifi.uio.no (Ola Fosheim
Gr=F8stad) wrote:

>Are mud designers adding features, for the sake of adding features,
>or is
>the aim to optimize for the user's experience?
>

  Most administrators tend to add features just to prove that they
can, without
regard to how it affects the game world as their guests experience it.

  I have had the honor of working with some of the most imaginative
game-world
programmers in the history of LPmud development...they're worth ten of
me and
I couldn't replace them if I lived to be a hundred. Still, it's
necessary from
time to time to remind them that there are *players* on the game, and
what they
want to implement would make the experience unduly harsh or
cumbersome. It's
no fault of their own - the game for them is, "what neat widget can I
tack on
today to look cool on RGMA, mud-dev, mud connector, etc" - which is
perfectly
fine and a valid ego stroke for them; if they're having fun doing it,
let them.
They can't do it, though, at the expense of the ease-of-use and
retention of
our guests.

  To beat an analogy I've been using for the last 10 years, we're all
basically
running carnivals or theme parks. Yes, putting that Binford 6100 HP
high-torque
MC grade motor on the tilt-a-whirl sounds way, way cool, but in
practice it might
be a smidge rough on the riders.

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Marc Bowden - Soulsinger                  D R E A M S H A D O W
Human Resources Director                 The Legacy of The Three
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