[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services]

> From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at email.msn.com>
 
> I understand.  But later in your post you state that cooperative gameplay
> is harder to implement in a game.  That's a statement that I certainly
> agree with.  I guess we don't have a world that provides both cooperative
> and competitive gameplay at equivalent levels of 'enjoyment'.  The fact
> that those games succeeded in attracting a large group of cooperative
> gamers who eschewed the competitive aspect of the game suggests to me
> that cooperative gameplay is at least attractive.  I'll still maintain
> that cooperative games (PvEs) will be the real means of advancing to the
> truly massive multiplayer vehicles.
> 

So is a pick-up game of football cooperative or competitive gameplay?  

I also dislike the lack of cooperative gameplay in the big three.  But I see at 
least two of those games as mostly PvE games.  So this tells me that cooperative 
and PvE are not necessarily synonymous.  Neither do I think that PvE is the only 
alternative to PvP.  IMHO, I think that a Team(s) vs. Team(s) approach will 
provide the best mix of cooperative and competitive gameplay.  Ideally, in a TvT 
virtual world, each team will be able to maintain territory that it controls.  
This in turn can allow players within that team to select a level of risk with 
which they are comfortable--safe and boring at the center of the territory, 
while dangerous and exciting on the front lines.

Additionally, wars would not need to be the only method for holding or expanding 
territory.  If natural resources and empire building (ala Civilization) are 
possible, then economic success could lead to expansion of territory as well.  
Perhaps diplomacy would be of primary importance.

In my mind, it is this type of model which is likely to capture the truly 
massively multiplayer title.

--Phinehas



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