[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[SavantKnowsAll at cs.com]

In a message dated 6/14/01 1:17:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
rkoster at verant.com writes:

>  How much time do you think the average player should spend
>  socializing in SWG?  Meaning, as opposed to "playing" however you
>  define that--killing things, crafting, whatever. Chatting while
>  recovering from a fight counts; chatting while forming a group
>  counts too.

When I first read this, I misunderstood your intent.  For me,
"playing" is hunting and crafting as well as going to town to heal,
having my armor repaired, getting my treasure chests picked... so
the thought of "downtime" beyond "playing" made me cringe - forced
downtime.

>  So numbers we arrived at among our team ranged from 3% all the
>  way up to 50%. I think it mostly reveals things about how
>  different people play the game--and also about how people define
>  socializing--and also about their memories (I flat out don't
>  *believe* the 3% people--that's a total of a few seconds every
>  HOUR spent chatting with people, on *average*. My take--nuh-uh,
>  no way. :) For the record, I was a 50% guy).

You can't really place an arbitrary number on downtime.  When you
get into trying to determine how much time you want players to
socialize so you can design around it, you begin trying to force the
player to play your way, rather than how he wants to.

Humans are social beasts, and they will eventually make friends and
have social circles.  Later in your post you mention resentment, and
that's what worries me most -- Having the players resent you/your
design because they feel like downtime is being pushed down their
throat.

>  In fact, I'd go so far as to state that it is a Law of Online
>  World Design: Socialization Requires Downtime.

Minor nitpick, but I like to think of game design as an art, rather
than a science -- and thus, being an art, it has no laws. ;)

>  Here's some examples from other games:
>  
>    * blacksmithies in Ultima Online.
>    * banks in UO. 
>    * town fountains in Diku muds.  
>    * spawn points in EverQuest. 
>    * safe zones in EQ.

  * healers and lockpicking in Gemstone III -- a fine example of
    "downtime" without the impression of it being forced.

  * "full mind"/nodes in Gemstone III ---- debatable

>  ...some of the guys who had most strongly seen the recovery areas
>  as being about character maintenance started talking about the
>  previous days' game of Counterstrike. "...and then I whipped
>  around the corner and the machine gun..." "Yeah! And the idiot
>  kept going and..." "Yeah, it was great! And then he did the
>  thing!"  "Yeah, the thing! That rocked!"

>  They made no sense. :)

Of course they didn't, they played CS over Serious Sam. =P

>  An interesting case was the blacksmithy in UO. Clearly a pit
>  stop. But since it involved a player service, there was a human
>  element to it that was missing from the bank or the spawn
>  point. Waiting for another player is more palatable than waiting
>  for the server to do something for you. So pit stops don't have
>  to all be bad.

This is probably the most important point in my eyes.  If the "pit
stop" is a player service, then there is no impression of it being a
tedious task.

>  Lastly, staging areas seem plainly vital, because you need to
>  have places where you form your party or group.

Are they though?  Rather than pre-designed "safe spots" -- Isn't
there more thrill in heading to town to get that group together?  Or
what about hunting in an area together, and shouting out, "Hey, you
guys wanna group and try out [insert slightly more difficult area
with better treasure]?"

>  And that brings us to a fourth touchstone question. Do you think
>  you will play mostly with friends you make BEFORE the game, or
>  friends you make IN the game, or with strangers?

MMOG's?  Most definitely friends you make in the game.

>  How much time do you think you should spend socializing? And
>  where? When does convenience become dehumanization? And
>  fundamentally, just how much downtime are you willing to take? 
>  Because it's evident that some needs to be there.

My opinion is the player should spend as much time as he wants
socializing.  Rather than forcing it down his throat, it should be
an advantageous option (finding a pc healer rather than eating
herbs/potions (they don't heal as well, or leave scars) -- finding a
lockpicker rather than going to an NPC one (they're much more
expensive or risk destroying your box)).

I think it's the last question that scares me the most -- "...how
much downtime are you willing to take?"  How much will I tolerate?
Well, I hope "tolerate" doesn't come into the equation, rather, it's
something I don't think of as "downtime" but rather, part of my
"playtime."

Daniel "Savant" Manachi
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