[MUD-Dev] Birthday Cake (or Why Large Scale Sometimes Sucks) (long)

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Wed, 7 Jun 2000, F. Randall Farmer wrote:

> I think we should be concerned about AT LEAST the primary effects
> of how we design, implement, and sell our work. 

I'm concerned with providing my users with an experience they want. If
what they want is bad for them, that's their issue, not mine. I'm not
daddy, and you know what, I don't know what's best for their lives.

 
> I've read over and over that we're displacing "only" TV time,
> as if that is, a priori, a good thing. I think that's damn
> smug of us. Even if the statistic were true (and I've not
> read any scientific study yet that supports this often
> cited hypothesis) ask yourself this:

Good, bad, whatever. It's not your decision. What is with this horribly
patronizing attitude so many seem to have towards the users? People, users
ARE NOT IDIOTS. You are NOT smarter than they are. You are certainly MUCH
less qualified to decide what is best for them than they themselves are.


> I will never intentionally design a product that requires
> users to play for large numbers of hours daily, with no
> end in sight, in order to succeed. I firmly reject the
> notion that MUDs/MMORGs must be that way.

No worries, lots of other people will. I'm so glad that not everyone is
you, and not everyone is me, because if that were the case, the world
would be awfully boring wouldn't it? No one is saying all  MUDs/MMORGs
must be that way, but I, for one, see absolutely no problem with some of
them (or most of them) being that way.


> Afterthought: Dani Bunten Berry PROVED over and over that you
> can design games that are 1) amazingly fun, 2) multiplayer,
> 3) profitable, 4) have a logical end but 5) have massive
> replay value.

Right, and lots of other people have PROVED over and over again that you
can design games that are 1) amazingly fun, 2) multiplayer, 3) profitable,
4) have no logical end, and 5) have massive replay value. I fail to see
why one is preferrable to the other from the creator's point of view. In
fact, I LIKE the fact that people want to spend 10 hours a day in my
worlds. It's an ego-stroker.

--matt




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