[MUD-Dev] Alternate Means of EQUAL Enjoyment (formerly trade skill idea)

[Geoffrey MacDougall]

I thought this thread had drifted sufficiently to deserve a new subject.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Koster, Raph
> Sent: October 6, 2000 12:44 AM
> To: 'mud-dev at kanga.nu'
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] trade skill idea
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> > [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> > Patrick Dughi
> > Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 4:10 PM
> > To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> > Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] trade skill idea
> >
> > 	I know most people wouldn't want to spend their personal time
> > pretending to be an accountant or fry cook, or even a vaunted,
> much sought
> > after interior decorator role. Ask them if they want to get the
> credit for
> > potentially saving the world from a monster invasion though,
> and they get
> > glossy-eyed.
>
> I heard this argument before UO came out. It has already been disproven.
> *shrug* You don't need to understand why it is so (I don't) in order to
> observe empirical evidence.

"Good evening, everyone.  My name is Geoffrey M., and I'm a lousy fighter."

Despite almost two decades of computer gaming, I have never been able to
develop the reaction times necessary to succeed in twitch games.  I've also
had my butt kicked on numerous occasions by lower level characters who
figured out how to utilize their combat skills with much greater efficacy
than I was ever able to pull together.  To top all this off - one of my
usual gaming partners is one of the best twitch players currently out there.
This guy can walk over the highest ranked players in Unreal Tournament while
watching TV - no exaggeration.

This all leads to my finding in-game combat pretty boring.  I either die
right away, or follow around picking up after the better fighters in my
party.

As a result, I've been drawn to games that not only allow for alternate
roles, but allow for alternate roles through which can be attained levels of
enjoyment ( <-- more about this word in a moment) competitive with combat.
And before you begin to suspect me as the first gamer in history without an
ego-problem, I also look for games where those alternate roles can elicit
the same degree of respect and jealousy as afforded tank-mages.

Despite my impotence in the ways of the sword, I am pretty good at one
thing - finding novel uses for oddball, b-side skills.  Hence why I was one
of the first GM Bards in UO that didn't simply macro Musicianship (SP?) for
the dex boost.  I used to love running by groups of 15 decked-out warriors
prepping to kill a single Dragon, carrying nothing but a tamborine, only to
have them come across me 5-10 minutes later with 6 dragon corpses littering
the ground at my feet, or by getting back at PKers enticing their horses
into the middle of an orc camp.

Now - I realize that these are combat scenarios - but I used to derive just
as much enjoyment by entertaining at guild parties.  I would be hired to
stand in a corner and play music for hours on end (which IRL consisted of
merely clicking on one instrument after another in rapid succession).  I
enjoyed this not for its excitement, but because it was novel (at the time,
at least), and I was one of the only players in the game capable of doing
it, which derived a certain degree of respect from fellow gamers.

This is why I think it important that a clear distinction be drawn between
"Excitement" and "Enjoyment".  I would argue that they are not the same - in
fact - excitement is nothing more than one of the many ways of achieving
enjoyment.  And I believe it to be the task of any good designer to maximize
enjoyment through as many different avenues as possible.  Excitement is
perhaps most useful, but it's definitely not the only way.

I'm also going to suggest a slightly more controversial idea - game
designers should not try to make every aspect of their game equally
appealing or profitable.  If it was just as easy to achieve, in the
power-gamer sense of the word, by being a Bard as it was a by being a
Warrior, it would not have been there as an unused way for me to carve my
place within the game.

The same thing applies to trade skills.  If someone spends all their time
double-clicking on mountains, but manages to establish the best equipped
weapons shop in the game, and derives a large degree of enjoyment from that
achievement - let them.  Don't seek to make the less appealing things more
appealing so that they become dominated by better players.

I'm not very good at the popular stuff - so I master the other aspects of
the game where there is less competition.  And in the end, while it may not
be as exciting, I derive the same levels of enjoyment.

Thoughts?

G.




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