[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[Travis Nixon]

From: "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at verant.com>

> The tradeoff, obviously, is that there isn't anyone manning the
> shop, so there's nobody to talk to. So it's a possible solution to
> tighter economic ties, but it doesn't speak to interaction. We
> have had players on the discussion board arguing that it does, but
> I don't know that picking up a load of ore from a mine and
> dropping it off as another player's blaster factory drives any
> *social* interaction any more than my ordering a book from Amazon
> means that I get to know the clerk.

I agree, and yet I wonder...

Somewhere down the line, is some player running a factory going to
discover that their "ore delivery services" are more reliable, more
loyal, if they interact socially?

Some time in the future, is some miner going to keep delivering to
the factory owner who is friendly, who always greets him at the
delivery door with a smile and a good word, even when another
factory owner offers slightly better prices?

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

Of course, I don't know the answer.  Maybe amazon is the future,
even in online games.

Or maybe people will see things like this in games as a way to gain
back a little bit of the personableness that is being lost in the
real world for efficiency's sake.

Again, I don't have a clue, and my magic 8 ball hasn't been working
lately.  :)

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