[MUD-dev] Fun in Games

[szii at sziisoft.com]

From: "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at soe.sony.com>
> From: "Szii" szii at sziisoft.com

>> They only superceed the tag of "game" once a player had accepted
>> it as "more than a game."  Until such time, it is simply a
>> game...much more complex than Risk, Diplomacy, Civ, etc, but
>> neverless, a game.
 
> You mean, it's a game only to that player. But that doesn't mean
> it's only a game to everyone else--most particularly including the
> makers of the game.  Given the vast quantity of online worlds that
> are not games that have been built thus far, I am always
> astonished when someone argues that the genre is "just games."

It is determined on a per capita basis.  You cannot convince, say,
my wife, that EQ is "more than a game."  It is only a game until the
player accepts it as more.

>> As much as world-builders (myself included) would LOVE to build
>> something more than a game...until we can build the ability to
>> occupy 100% of a day, including "real life" eating, drinking,
>> sleep, exercise, restroom activities, etc, we are simply a game.
 
> I fail to see what all of those mundane activities have to do with
> whether or not something is a game. The opposite of game is not
> mundanity.

It's not about being "mundane."  It's about immersion.  It's about
the continuity of the "game" to where you're not breaking out of it
for "real world" activities.  So long as there's a hard-separation
between the two, it remains a game.  Once you can encompass all of
the "mundane" stuff, then you don't really leave the game.  You
could play for a week straight - 24/7 - with few ill effects.  After
all, eating, sleeping, showering, exercising, etc all are part of
the "world."  You begin to perceive "real life" as the
game...something to log out of the system to play around in.

This just came to me, but it's a pretty cheesy analogy so don't
laugh TOO hard...  think of it as "Matrix-style" immersion, but with
more individual control of when you're "in" and when you're "out."

-Szii

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