[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt Mihaly
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 1:15 PM
> To: 'mud-dev at kanga.nu'
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

> On Wed, 13 Jun 2001, Koster, Raph wrote:
 
>> With these examples in hand, we classified the types of social
>> spaces into three:
  
>>   STAGING: these are places where you form a group, find a
>>   friend, and decide what to do.  PIT STOP: these are the
>>   obligatory stops you make before you get to have fun.
>>   RECOVERY: these are the places where you go after an adventure.

> This seems to presume that you're making a monster-bashing game
> (which I know you are, but I got the idea you were making a
> broader statement). I'd add that sometimes a single social space
> can be all three of the above AND the place where you have your
> 'fun'. For instance, the politicians in Achaea might be sitting in
> a single room, doing everything from there while chatting.

I am making a broader statement; there's staging areas, pit stops,
and recovery phases in politics too. :) The monster-bashing just
happens to have a lot of this stuff quantified so it makes an easier
example.

In terms of traffic flow, it's of course necessary to talk about it
in terms of locations. But your example is not location-based, it's
time-based. The area changes in function as different stages of the
gameplay/activity occur.

The problem with not paying attention to traffic flow is that in
your above example, it is extremely likely that the politicians will
only talk to other politicians, unless there's some traffic flow
reason for non-politicians to come through there. And I WANT
strangers to rub up against one another, because it encourages that
more open 250-person community (hermetic cliques tend to be much
smaller), it increases the odds of welcoming novices to the
environment, and it therefore acts as a retention mechanism.

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