[MUD-Dev] Retention without Addiction?

[Ted L. Chen]

Paul Schwanz wrote:

> OK.  But the whole point of the post which opened this thread was
> to explore whether an MMORPG that is fun or entertaining must be
> understood solely in terms of how well it encourages habitual or
> even obsessive play.  I proposed that we may actually be able to
> increase retention as well as entertainment value by offering
> games that have a more flexible, episodic approach to gameplay.  I
> pointed to television sitcoms and how they remain entertaining
> despite their episodic nature and despite commercial
> interruptions.  I talked about the fact that most of the
> best-sellers I've read lately have chapter breaks, which are
> obvious points of exit.  I noted that perhaps we could learn
> something from *good* books and *entertaining* sitcoms and how
> they keep readers and viewers coming back for more.

I personally prefer the idea of the 2hr MMOG.  But there's several
nagging design issues associated with making it so bite-sized:

  1) Cliff-hangers are useful, but only if the episode in itself has
  some mini-conflict/resolution.  I've lost interest in the TV
  series 24hrs just because of this reason... a meandering plot-line
  within episodes that makes me feel like I've just wasted 1hr of my
  life.  IIRC, the cheesy 60's Batman series followed the very well
  developed twin-episode format:

    1a) crime/problem

    1b) batman appears and wins initially/solution

    1c) criminal regains upperhand and ends in a cliffhanger

      Relation to MMOGs: How do we actually sculpt a successful
      conflict/resolution structure without a script?  Do we want to
      predetermine that batman escapes in 2b?  Free-will and all.
      :P

  2) 100% of books, tv, movies, and comics show the interesting
  1%-5% of the character's lives.

    2a) recap/problem

    2b) batman escapes/solution

    2c) twin-episode arc resolution/final showdown and the
    revolving-door arkham.

      Relation to MMOGs: The old question of whether to
      time-compress pops up.  People have bad memory when it comes
      to visual information.  They seem to forget detail they see in
      a little over or under 2hrs (there are some techniques in film
      to combat this, effectiveness degrading with use).  Imagery
      constructions formed from reading last a bit longer because
      there's a lot more brain-work going on to generate that
      information.  MMOGs share some of the interactivity of books,
      but lose a bit more memory retention because they're visual.
      My guess is that this puts MMOG recollection at about 4hrs
      worth, so short of any grand-overarching plotline, any
      relation between details in your plot has to remain within
      this time.  Hence, spending 3 mindless hours to travel from
      one part of the planet to another (in order to advance the
      plot) doesn't leave much room for you to work in.

      Either remove the 3hrs from gameplay, or give flashbacks.  A
      flashback in a MMOG!?  Either way, it'll break the you're
      THERE, first-person philosophy of current MMOG designs.  Oh
      well, I was never too attached to that idea anyway ;)

  3) Sitcoms play on the vices of its characters by pitting them in
  situations, hence the name.

      Relation to MMOGs: How does the game system know what your
      vices are?  Do you specify it ahead of time and it picks out
      the best situations to put you through?  General situations
      (i.e. monster-bashing) are bland.  Not because of what they
      are, but because they elicit the same general behaviors that
      everyone has.  Elmer Fudd's rabbit huntin' (not bashing)
      situation is interesting because it plays specifically on both
      vices and virtues of Elmer and Bugs.  If they just beat each
      other senseless, I'm sure the cartoon would be woefully
      boring.
  
      Retention in sitcom relies on the fact that these characters
      are well developed and you know the vices they posses.

Well, these are just the musings of a madman who enjoys
deconstructing past media types, much to the chagrin of a lot of
people ;)

TLC

<EdNote: The #2[abc] bits were initially listed as #2[abc] under #1.
Suspecting this an unintentional error I moved them under #2 (where
they also made more sense to me)>
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