[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Fri 15 Jun, Paul Sage wrote:

> I never speak up on this list too much, as I am far more of a
> lurker by nature.  However, I would have to agree with Jeff that
> downtime is not relational to socialization in anything more than
> an ancillary way.

Actually, I believe that Raph's argument went the other way
around. He explained that by taking away downtime you take away
(most if not all) chance of socialisation.  He also showed that some
forms of downtime were perceived as that (the automated banks),
while others offered the players the chance to socialise (the
blacksmiths). I never read in his post the claim that forcing
players to spend time away from the actual game magically forces
them to socialise.

> Nonetheless, I don't think downtime really does anything useful
> for introduction, unless helping one another shorten downtime is
> considered downtime.

This is why the blacksmiths worked.  Players were forced to spent
some time there (but likely could postpone it if in a hurry) and
they were waiting for another player, who could talk
(i.e. socialise) with them while they were waiting, as could the
other players waiting their turn The setting offered the opportunity
and introduced (relatively) little resentment into the players.

> Companionship is where downtime helps, but only insomuch as you
> are giving people time to socialize, and probably not offering
> them anything else to do.  This does encourage people to look for
> other interesting and compatible individuals to help them while
> away the time, but it has one very negative impact.  It is time
> wasting.  I have a very limited schedule to visit the world,
> downtime is an exit point for me.

> So I would like to offer an alternative.  Leisure time.  If you
> have a quick way for people to visit leisure spots such as
> casinos, nightclubs, concert halls, etc... you encourage
> socialization.

You really are encouraging one particular style of players to hang
out in other locations than others.

Downtime is psychologically necessary for players. If the experience
is sufficiently intense players need time to reorient themselves. I
clear- ly remember the first time I went to visit dangerous monsters
on muds I have played. Some of those required a well-organised (!) 
group of 30 or so players to defeat them. After the nerve-wracking
experience of step- ping through the portal to the most fearsome
monster in the game I was mentally spent. Even if I did not survive
the fight and the Imms had to step in to retrieve the corpses.
Those were big events, planned for a week, and after that nobody was
fit to play.  All we could do was hang out and lick our wounds,
talking about what happened and what had gone wrong, or sometimes,
right.  While I am aware that most of the time the game experience
is not quite so stressfull, it still sets (should set) the
adrenaline flowing, and a player needs to recover from that.
Downtime helps with that, and it is a good idea if the setting where
that happens encourages socialisation as much as the gameplay does.
Enforcing socialisation in a game that encourages solo play makes no
sense, and will fail. Players will perceive it as annoying, find a
safe spot and set their afk flag.  In games that encourage groups it
makes a lot sense to make sure that there are natural spots for the
players to spend their downtime. It is where new players will
gravitate towards to and find others to group with, or have a chance
to overhear more expe- rienced players, and ask for help or advise.

> (Of course, they can take the leisure activities with them.)
> There are also many other ways to encourage socialization, and I
> don't want to bring this discussion into other avenues that I am
> convinced most people here know.  So I also oppose adding this
> postulate to the LAWS, but if you feel so inclined, like Judas
> Priest, I'll be "breakin' the law!"

If there is a law in this I would say it is:

The need for downtime in a game is proportional to the stress normal
gameplay induces.

The caveat of course would be: Each player experiences a different
degree of the later.


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

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