FW: [MUD-Dev] Interesting EQ rant (very long quote)

[Brian Hook]

At 08:39 AM 3/20/01 -0800, Jeff Freeman wrote:

> IMO, "the masses" or "the casual gamers", or whatever you want to
> call them (not necessarily "newbies" or even really *casual* gamers
> really, so much as just "not hardcore gamers"), want an easy game.

There's a very important, but sometimes missed, difference between an
"easy game" and an "easy to play" game.  You can have a game that's
difficult to master without being difficult to play.

> They want tons and tons of content that they can consume with
> relatively little "challenge" (meaning obstacles put in place to
> slow their rate of consumption).

Challenge is not the same thing as things that slow your rate of
consumption.  For example, long downtimes are not a "challenge", they
are long durations of sheer boredom.

> *want* to be level 40.  They want to be level 60.  And they want it
> to be as easy as it was at level 40.

I've seen very few players espouse this.  I've seen a lot of players
complain that the game becomes more _tedious_ and _time consuming_ at
higher levels, but not necessarily more difficult.  And the times when
it truly is more difficult are the times you have encounters
specifically designed to completely destroy players because it is
"known" that a powerguild will "figure it out" eventually.

> how it's too hard, tedious, frustrating, and "not fun".

Once again, I have a problem with grouping "too hard" in the same
category as "tedious" and "frustrating".

Brian Hook

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