[MUD-Dev] Justifying twinking

[F. Randall Farmer]

From: Ryan Palacio <rpalacio at verant.com>
> "Does average Joe Gamer consistantly 'complete', 'finish', or 'win' the
> majority of single-player titles he/she owns if the difficulty level
exceeds
> his/her _initial_ skill level?" In other words, does average Joe Gamer
> rise to the occassion and improve him/her-self as necessary?

Not often, in my experience. Generally, the people who finish these games
are those who already know how to finish them.

>Or does Joe Gamer quit, pack up their toys and go home?

This happens a lot to the folks (non-Mudders) I know.

> If to the former one answers "yes", twinking will not extend longevity
since
> Joe Gamer will not quit until they have overcome the impediment to their
> progress.
>
> If to the latter one answers "yes", you cannot help Joe Gamer unless you
> provide them a dedicated baby-sitter.  The game will ultimately become
"too
> hard" for them and they will leave unless cared for constantly.  And since
> noone likes a leech, Joe Gamer will not have friends very long and will
> decide to quit.

Umm. I must suck then.
I'll never make any friends in EQ/UO/AC, I guess. What, being a
"leech" and all. :-P

[I think the argments above are overly polarized.]

I haven't been able to complete a _single_ adventure/story game since
Wizardry in 1984 without referring to either a hint book/friend
(pre-internet) or a walkthru (since internet) at LEAST once.

I've walked away from MANY adventure games because I had to go
back for the "cheat" one to many times (or didn't have any help.)

I know _lots_ of folks in this category. In fact, I know very few who've
completed any solo "epic" (100hrs+) without assistance.

Heck, I'm just now about to finally complete Diablo for the first time
with my 13 year old daughter, and we never would have been able
to get this far without me grabbing the patch that lets you spend
more $$ than you have. We would have quit weeks ago.

[ My daughter doesn't know I've installed this cheat, and she doesn't need
to. At this point, it just means we get a few more yellow potions. :-)]

This is all besides the point. Single player games -aren't- MPGs, for
reasons
outlined by many others here (including Ryan.)

Apples and Oranges, says I. :-)

Oh yeah, in _social_ situations, Raphs comments have been confirmed over
and over: Get newbies in touch with an experienced user within 2 minutes,
and the chance of getting an "active" user increase at least 10 fold.

Heck, Churches have known this for centuries.  :-)

Randy
"Hello! Welcome to Wal-Mart! Can I help you find what you're looking for?"











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