[MUD-Dev] Interesting EQ rant (very long quote)

[John Buehler]

msew writes:

> As to "cheapens them" that is totally subjective :-) For the
> Achiever archetype, the actual steps and the "story" and "plot"
> behind the quest are pointless.  Only the reward matters.

> Now if the "plot" of the quest actually affected the game state in
> some way then it might matter, but as most quest systems don't do
> that and just tell the tale of "some farmer losing his daughter to
> the trolls and if you get back her bones he would be so ever
> grateful" it just doesn't really matter in the long run of the game.
> (if those plot lines and stories actually did then it would be a
> different matter)

Right.  Quests systems are predicated on having precanned problems
that constitute cheeze in a maze situations.  Wandering through the
maze isn't entertaining, so only having the cheeze is.  The achiever
archetype is *invented* by this construct.

Even saying that performing the quest causes the plot of the world to
change is the cheeze in a maze situation - if the result of finishing
the quest produces the change.  You've just changed the cheeze.

All activities in the world must be inherently entertaining.  The maze
must be fun to walk, and the cheeze only slightly more desireable than
wandering the maze (if that).  As has been said before, the journey
must be the cheeze, not the destination.  This means that a multipart
quest must involve travel, crafting, fighting, socializing, magic,
etc.  All the entertaining things that your world offers.  If you
don't have any entertaniment in your world, your players will
powergame their way through it in hopes that the cheeze promised will
give them a feeling of accomplishment.

Consider books.  Do you flip to the end of the book to read the
section where Gollum falls into The Pit with the One Ring?  Of course
not.  Books present the entertainment of the journey.  The end of the
book consists of the climax and the denouement, but are only 10% of
the story, if that.

How do we make activities entertaining?  By having them never happen
the same way twice.  By ensuring that there are so many variables that
go into an activity that there is always some twist in the way it is
presented to the player or the way it comes out in the end.

Walking: the sounds of the ground the character is on, the sounds due
to the equipment worn, the sounds of things around the character,
slipping on treacherous ground, changing gait as the terrain changes
in angle, presence of snow, presence of vegetation, etc.  An entire
game could be made out of just walking - and players spend a fair
amount of time walking, running and riding.  That, or they use magical
crutches like teleportation because we can't figure out how to make
the mundane entertaining.

> I think the next generation of MMP games need to figure out how to
> involve the casual gamer in the community and in the world (giving
> them powerful items which they can get themselves and not have to
> buy) while keeping the powergamers from feeling they are getting the
> shaft since that guy who plays 12 hours a week has almost equal gear
> and lvl to them when they are playing 40+ hours a week.

Certainly entertainment should be available to the casual gamer as
well as the more serious gamer.  If the entertainment is in the
journey, then I suspect that the casual gamer will have just as much
fun.  Note that if things that players can do are many in number, are
not static, and are not documented, then a player who discovers a
quest should be able to complete it at his liesure - depending on
whether or not a later step in the chain of events is eradicated by
another player.

This is why the steps themselves must be entertaining.  The final
outcome of the quest might not even be there.  Suppose you find a map
to a treasure.  Somebody else might have tripped over it in their
travels.  Sorry, no treasure at the end of the rainbow for you.  So
the trip to try and find the treasure had better have been
entertaining.  And adventure should be all around the characters as
they follow their rainbows.  Consider: you end up on a ship at sea and
a sea battle ensues.  Maybe you complete your trip peacefully and
maybe not.  Maybe there's a storm and you have to lend a hand with the
ship's lines.  Maybe there is damage and you're given the opportunity
to learn a bit of carpentry.  Maybe there is a troup of entertainers
on board and you get to watch or learn how to juggle.  Or you can
spend time watching the scenery.  Or fish.  Or engage in mock combat
with others.  Contrast this with the EverQuest experience of being on
a ship.  You stand there and you wait.  They intentionally take out
what little entertainment there is in EverQuest.  No magic can be
cast, no duels can be fought and no trades can be performed.  The only
thing I ever did on the boat was learn a new language, which is a
pushbutton frenzy activity.  It's not inherently entertaining.

JB

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