Inspecting (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Total Annilation of Downtime)

[Amanda Walker]

On 12/14/02 6:21 PM, Brad McQuaid <bmcquaid at cox.net> wrote:

> That's very true.  The challenge of EQ was to take inspiration
> from a very compelling yet very niche style of game (text combat
> MUDs), attach graphics to it, develop our own world, make some
> adjustments to gameplay here and there, PR and Market it as
> professionally as possible, and see if it would be commercially
> viable and mainstream (mainstream as far as computer games go,
> mind you).

And indeed, it turned out rather well.  I don't mean to be
criticizing those decisions--revenue is the best reward, and
EverQuest definitely set the benchmark for MMORPGs.  I was
responding with a personal supporting anecdote when the observation
that some people reacted poorly to the UI's message came up in
conversation.

> The result, despite it being far more successful than we'd ever
> dreamed (still over 400,000 active, I think), was still a game
> with some hard edges, especially for people who'd never played a
> game like it before.

In my case, more of an annoyance than a "hard edge".  Once I
realized that the message meant that someone had simply
right-clicked on my avatar, I became less annoyed--this just wasn't
initially obvious.

Amanda Walker


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