[MUD-Dev] Bay Area Press re: UO, the good the bad and the Ugly.

[Jessica Mulligan]

-----Original Message-----
From: Raph Koster [mailto:rkoster at austin.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2000 7:27 PM
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Bay Area Press re: UO, the good the bad and the
Ugly.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Myschyf
> Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2000 8:47 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Bay Area Press re: UO, the good the bad and the
> Ugly.
>
>
> You know, Raph and the rest of you, this guy is an aberration.
> He's not the normal MUD or MMOG player.

>> The normal MMORPG player is online 20 hours a week. What else do you do
for
>> 20 hours a week? I bet there aren't very many single activities. And this
is
>> the average. Being crude with the stats here, that means half of MMORPG
>> players are playing MORE than that.

Acknowledging that Raph was doing off-the-cuff "figgering," it turns out
that most people are playing less than that.  The usage average has always
been skewed by a small number of super-hardcore players ( the "aberrations")
who log 60 to 80 hours per week.  The average in some games is also skewed
by players who macro unattended i.e. the computer is logged in, but the
"player" is away from the terminal doing something else.

I've been tracking commercial MMPOG usage since 1989, when the average cost
to play was $5 per hour.  Flat rate fees have smoothed the trend.  Very
generally speaking: Whereas in 1991 the top 5% of the players used 20% of
total play time and the top 20% of them used 60%+ of the play time, it now
tends more toward 5%/10% & 20%/40%.  Based on those figures, 80% of the
player base is averaging less than 15 hours per week, or 25% less than the
aggregate average. Again, this is generally speaking; your mileage in your
game may vary.

Still, 15 hours a week is damn near a part-time job and tends to prove that
we're still in the "will play nine player Tic-Tac-Toe if that is all that is
available" enthusiast stage of our existence.

>> I've said in the past that often online game addiction seems to fill a
void
>> in people's lives when they need it filled, and serves as therapy. But,
and
>> this is a big but, it serves as therapy if it teaches the person
something
>> about themselves, if they somehow learn new skills (interpersonal,
>> technical, whatever), if they move past it in the end because the void it
>> filled is no longer there.

Raph expresses a thought I've heard many designers articulate over the
years.  Now, here's where all those figures above come in (and where Jessica
steps out on a limb):

I have yet to meet a designer that wasn't in the top 20% category above.
Most of us are in the top 5% category.  I suspect one reason we keep
designing these games the way we do, is that they are therapy for US, who
are so like the hard core players.

If that is true, is it any wonder that the MMPOGs we design continually tend
to appeal quite heavily to 20% of the players?

-Jess




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