[MUD-Dev] GoPers are ants at RP picnics!... was Pay for Play(or commercial rolecall)

[Marian Griffith]

On Sat 24 Feb, Jon Lambert wrote:

> I think any pure role-player who claims they simply don't understand
> goal oriented games is lying.  Unless they've lived in a bubble or
> not on Earth, they certainly couldn't have helped but encounter them
> and play them at some time.

Well, I would call myself a roleplayer and I would say that I do not
understand goal oriented players. Or more precisely, I do not under-
stand the *appeal* they have in and of themselves.  Sure, I played
them, but I never understood the single mindedness with which some of
the other players approached the game.  To me it always was about
making friends and doing things together, whether it was a suicidal
attempt to take on primus, a hell-run or simply chatting in the town
square :) I ended up doing a lot of the later, unless some of my on-
line friends wanted to play the game and dragged me along for heal-
ing and total disregard for gold and loot...

> I don't believe the reverse is true.  There are many GoPers who have
> never played a role-playing game in the way that many role-players
> experience it.  At least not as adults.  Actually it is my theory
> that most people have played the equivalent of pure role-play
> sessions many times between the ages of 2 and 10 and just can't
> remember it very well. :-P

This is very true :)

At the same time it is an analogy that is likely to foster a gross
misunderstanding of what exactly role playing is.  Just call it ac-
ting, or play-acting if you must :)

> It's not that role-players would make bad developers, it's more that
> what they need and require for role-play simply doesn't require or
> cry out for code development.  I think the exact opposite is true,
> developers simply don't understand that their _code_ doesn't do
> anything to enhance or encourage role-play!

I do not entirely agree with this.  Roleplaying requires different
things in code, most notably it needs 'props' and 'scene'.  What it
does not require is a (very) active world. If nothing (much) happens
in the game you can still roleplay, but you can not roleplay in the
way it is commonly interpreted for computer games (what we call roll
or game-oriented play).  Developing a roleplay oriented game requires
depth of backstory, an reactive environment and plenty of ways to
create scenes in which to roleplay.  The problem may well be that
people with an interest in roleplaying (acting) tend to be less
interested in coding. More of a problem with attitude rather than
ability.


Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev