[MUD-Dev] Ray Feist interview

[David Loeser]

> John Buehler <johnbue at msn.com> writes:
>
> > Raymond E. Feist Interview
>
> That certainly gave me insights into a different way of thinking
> about these games.
>
> What percentage of folks here are interested in trying to move
> players (independent-minded as they are) through a story of their
> own making?  I find that an odd thing to attempt.  I can only see
> the gamemasters controlling very large scale events, with the
> players controlling all the smaller-scale things.  For example, the
> gamemasters control invasions, assasinations, plagues, famines, etc.
> Macro trends.  The players decide what they want to do within that
> envelope.  The gamemasters can choose to react to what players are
> doing, but there's not much point in having momentus events focused
> on some small segment of players because that means that the rest of
> the players are having to play a different game.
>
> I come from the school of thought that states that games shouldn't
> be inviting players to spend their lives there - which is what
> players are encouraged to do when they find that their actions
> impact the macro activites of a 2000+ player server.  They can be
> FAMOUS!  If only they spend the 100 hours a week needed to be among
> the few that have characters in a position to perform the needed
> actions.  It's a strange way to derive satisfaction from life.

This is exactly the issue that "we" have been working on. How can a
player that does not spend 100 hours per week playing continue to feel
that they matter. More over how do you make that player continue to
play? To feel that he isn't (for lack of a better word) "losing"?

On top of that how do you make the game challenging enough for the
player that does spend 100 hours per week playing... or how do you
continue to challenge that player to remain a paying customer?

David "Dak Lozar" Loeser


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