[MUD-Dev] Social Networks

[Damion Schubert]

From: Sage

> My experience in EQ suggests that Freeport failed as a Market for other
> reasons than points of interest:  
 
>   1.  Navigating it was somewhat of an issue for newer players.

>   2.  It was too crowded and people were bunched up on one another.

>   3.  Some races couldn't enter without doing a lot of
>   "busy-work."  (Improving faction, sneaking, etc.)

I'd like to throw on that stack of reasons the fact that:

  (a) lots of downtime between battles meant that a merchant could
  shout in the channel and reach a lot of people sitting around
  doing nothing.

  (b) the zone served a wide range of lower level characters.

  (c) players were afraid of leaving the zone in fear of losing
  their orc camping spot.

  (d) the ability to sell any object to any merchant meant that
  there actually was very little reason to go into town (banks are
  the only reason, but my experience was the need to go there was
  only once per day, usually at logoff).

That being said, I _like_ the fact that the player community was
essentially centered around a low level zone rather than a town.  It
was easy for new players to get stuff, find parties, get help, and
experiment with the next level of monster up.  I'd even attribute
this mechanic (whether intentional or not) as a large part of why
the EQ achiever population was so healthy.

As for other games, most games I've observed have had town usage,
centered very pragmatically around the most important buildings in
town.  In UO, the banks are still to this day very crowded places,
while most of the rest of the cities are left empty most of the
time.  In Meridian 59, oddly enough, the city of Tos' shops were so
much more profitable to sell stuff at that players always
congregated there, despite our efforts to use other carrots to lure
players to the other 4 cities.

--d

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