[MUD-Dev] MMORPGs & MUDs

[Marc Bowden]

On Tuesday, December 18, 2001 7:54 AM -0500 Michael Tresca
<talien at toast.net> wrote:
> Jeff Freeman posted on Sunday, December 16, 2001 5:29 PM
>> From: Michael Tresca <talien at toast.net>

>>> No wonder players are screaming and yelling about art vs. fun.

>> *boggle*

>> Which players are those?

> See my previous post:

>   http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2001Q4/msg00820.php

  "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe..."

I think the boggling is because most of us don't see the *players*
screaming about the designers' focus in any specific or articulate
terms. Mainly we see them looking for stock libraries with big
playerbases that they have existing triggers/scripts/cheat guides
for, and God help you if you're not one of those. ;)

Essentially, players object to having to read. As odd as that
sounds, the traffic pattern of the average new guest bears this out:
if there's too much to read, or any sort of learning curve into the
unfamiliar that might require reading, the guest will go somewhere
else. You, as a game designer, pick the level of compromise there
that you're comfortable with.

For what it's worth, Mike, I agree with the basic tenet of your
essay - I was part of both TMI and TMI-2 and I'll maintain that the
reason they folded up was because it became less about running an
ammusement park and more about seeing who could make the most
complicated and 'cool' changes to the backbone system to impress his
fellows.

--
Marc Bowden - Soulsinger         Dreamshadow:The Legacy of the Three
  ryumo at merit.edu                                 206.246.120.2 3333

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