[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

[Amanda Walker]

On 12/18/02 8:46 AM, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> wrote:

> It is also worth noting that a disproportionate number of jerks
> are powergamers. Powergamers are not *necessarily* jerks, and
> jerks are not *necessarily* powergamers, but the correlation is
> far too distinct to be ignored.

I don't really agree with this.  However, I would say that
powergamers are playing a different game, and that doing so has the
effect of coming across as a jerk.

Here's why I say this.  MMO games are fed by two very different
gaming traditions: console/PC single-player or small-group games,
and primarily social MUDs & pen-and-paper RPGs.

In a console game, the goal is to "beat the game".  Not the
opponents presented by the game, the game itself.  It's to get all
of the powerups, kill all of the monsters, go through all of the
levels, see all of the cinematics, etc.  Anything goes--there's no
such thing as "exploiting" or "cheating", and the primary reward is
bragging rights.  This is how those games were designed (probably
part of the arcade heritage, where the idea was to get you to keep
feeding the game quarters).  This is a perfectly valid playstyle for
those games.  Insofar as other players are in the game, the goal is
to get them out of your way and get the high score.  The only
restriction is the game's implementation--any glitches or unintended
possibilities just become part of the game.  This is fine--I myself
had plenty of fun exploiting bugs in arcade games as a kid--I love
puzzles, and games make great puzzles.

In social RPGs and MUDs, the goal is to have fun with a bunch of
other people.  I played pen-and-paper RPGs in high school and
college, and had a blast.  We didn't worry about stats and levels,
or items and gold pieces, we had fun eating pizza, coming up with
bad puns, and making up the rules as we went along.  It was an
ongoing contest between the players and the GM to see who would come
up with something interesting next.  Great fun, but a very, very
different game than the arcade games in the cafeteria break room.
Half the fun was telling "no shit, there we were..." stories as we
were winding down waiting for Presti's to open at 3AM with fresh hot
donuts.  This is also a perfectly valid playstyle, for those games.

MMOs are an interesting hybrid.  They have some aspects of console
games, and some aspects of social MUDs, and they thus attract
players from both traditions.  The powergamers treat it like a
really big console game: "hey, if the game's code allows X, I'm
going to X, so get out of my way and let me level."  The socializers
treat it like a big MUD and sit around chatting and being silly with
friends (or doing hot chat in private or group channels).

When these two playstyles interfere with each other, players of each
end up completely at cross purposes with the other.  "Hey, you're
ruining my fun!"  vs. "Shut up and let me play!"

Each game strikes a different balance--each game will appeal more to
some people than others.  THIS IS A FEATURE, NOT A BUG.

Amanda Walker


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