[MUD-Dev] trade skill idea

[Josh Olson]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at verant.com>
> > IMO, it's not the trade skill itself that's fun; it's what
> > you do with the product.
>
> Tell that to everyone who bought SimCity, The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon,
or
> any of the many other similar products. These don't even HAVE a product
> marketing phase after the building phase of the game. It's ONLY about the
> building. The desire to build is what crafting satisfies. You wouldn't say
> that "building areas isn't fun, it's only what you do with the area
> afterwards" would you?

No, I'd say "constructing individual buildings isn't fun; it's what you do
with the buildings that is."

The appeal of SimCity is not in the construction of individual buildings;
it's in the meta-construction: how you lay out those buildings/zones in
relation to each other and control economic and legal factors to encourage
their interaction and growth.  Stamping out the same buildings over and over
with no rhyme or reason isn't fun.  Crafting cities is.

I have no doubt that MMORPG trade skills can and will be made more complex,
more dependent on player skill, and more satisfying.  But eventually, after
the thousandth skullcap has been expectorated, the process is pretty much
the same as it was the other 999 times.  And at that point, it's what you do
with them that makes the whole thing fun.

Building, like just about anything else, only continues to be fun when it
requires some consideration and decision-making, and changes from instance
to instance.  Imagine how empty high school shop classes would be if they
did nothing but make napkin holder after napkin holder, week in and week
out.

-Josh Olson







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