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

[Chris Turner]

On Sun, 4 Jun 2000, Shakkar wrote:

> From: Chris Turner <christ at rd.bbc.co.uk>
> 
> > Unfortunately you will get people who become addicted to your game if it
> > is good or has features that they enjoy.  Who amongst us hasn't played a
> > game that has kept us up to the small hours of the morning whilst we
> > tried to just complete that next puzzle/level/mission/etc.  Despite the
> > fact that the following morning we feel dead due to lack of sleep, we
> > still repeat the process.
> 
> That is a compelling game, and I've done the same thing.  But did the game
> really *require* you stay at the computer all night to finish that level?

In almost all the times I've ever stayed up late playing a game, it's
because I'd reached some point at which if I stopped playing I'd have to
redo it all over again when I returned.  Mostly due to the lack of a "Save
game" option mid-level or because I'd made a mistake, which although
didn't appear to stop me completing, it wasn't worth saving unless I
actually got somewhere.

So I guess in some ways, yes I did have to finish the level - if I'd given
up all that energy I'd put into completing it so far would have been wasted. 
In the old days with infocoms' text adventures, you could spend as much or
as little time playing it because you could save your point at any time. 

With an online game that isn't possible - sure you can "log out" - but the
game continues on without you.  If you spend 3 hours trying to solve a
puzzle but get called away to dinner, only to find when you return that
someone has solved it for you, you'd be annoyed.  At least I would be -
especially if I had to pay for the pleasure.  Luckily, in most muds, the
game would reset eventually and I could have another stab at it - this time
using the previous 3 hours knowledge already gained.

Obviously, however, quests/puzzles that reset are only interesting once.  An
idea that has sprung into my mind whilst I've written this is a further
expansion onto the idea of dynamic quests.  If you make it so that once a
quest has been discovered, unless the player(s) participating tell you about
it, you won't really notice it.  The players involved can finish it at their
leisure without having 

> Here is where I think socially conscious game designers can make a
> difference.  And I'd think most of you here are socially conscious, after
> all you spend time here discussing virtual communities and the dynamics of
> social interaction all the time.

Having spent the past 7 years running a talker, I don't think I'm any closer
to understanding people, or social interaction.  Still, I'm sure some of it
must be rubbing off *8).

Chris
--
christ at rd.bbc.co.uk   #include <stddisclaimer.h>   http://www.fysh.org/~maddy

   "So this is really me? A no-style gimbo with teeth druids could use as a
       place of worship" - Duaine Dibley (Red Dwarf - "Back to Reality")




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