[MUD-Dev] The changing nature of fun

[Kwon Ekstrom]

From: "brian hook" <brianhook at pyrogon.com>

> "Corpse Recovery"

> The bane of many a midnight EQ session.  I hate CR, it sucks.  But
> there is no arguing that it CAN contribute to a great gaming
> experience -- when a bunch of low levels contribute to helping out
> a fellow stranger recover his corpse, that's one of the greatest
> feelings you can have in an on-line game.  A wonderful sense of
> community.  But the 99% of other times it sucks.

I rather enjoyed corpse recovery as a player (and I'm guessing that
I'm one of the few who did from the other responces to this
thread)... The problem arises in that the higher level a person
acheives, the more difficult it becomes to recover a corpse.  This
is due to the fact that most actions are combat oriented and
increasing difficulty also includes making it more difficult to
arrive at a location.

Also the "too intelligent" AI comes to mind... mobs that
automatically attack without any way to slip by them if you need to,
and never stop chasing you when you flee.

> "Travel"

> The first time I traveled in EQ, it was an awe inspiring
> experience.  In fact, in terms of major gaming moments in my life,
> the first time I entered Black Burrow and the first time I did the
> Qeynos to Freeport runs are probably right up there as my most
> memorable.

> But the luster wears off.  It goes from being magical and fun to
> being tedious and a pain.  Things like SOW and wizard portals
> suddenly feel like "must have" items (and JBoots, back when you
> could get them).

Travel is something I enjoy, the first thing I do on any new game is
learn my way around... generally well above the "required" level.
This is both an aspect of the explorer and killer Bartle types
(explorer: must know everything, Killer: Must know where I am so I
can best run/chase.)

The little bit of down time it requires is sometimes a drag, but
generally isn't bad... instant travel is nice, but it's difficult to
reverse the trend of people moving around instantly once it's
started.  It also tends to lower the amount of knowledge required to
advance... I'm generally against anything which reduces complexity
or choices, although I like to decrease barrier to use with smarter
user interface.

> The above are just some examples of things that are fun and not
> fun, and the level of fun depends entirely on the player and the
> situation.  This is important -- NOTHING IN THE GAME CHANGED, BUT
> THE SUBJECTIVE ENJOYMENT ITSELF DID.  This is a major issue.

> Games that naively try to "fix" the above end up losing a lot of
> personality.  You get rid of CR, and suddenly there doesn't feel

I agree, I've worked on alot of text muds over the years (I like to
help out smaller muds and tend to fix alot of minor issues that have
crept up over the years), and I've noticed a tendency to cut out
anything deemed as "unfair" or "unbalancing", there's rarely a drive
to fix things by adding.

I don't think there are any "perfect" solutions to any of these
problems, but the one thing which helps the most is choices.
Generally speaking, the more choices a player has before them, the
longer they will spend exploring those choices.

The more choices that are available to you, the more interesting
encounters seem to be.  As long as the choices don't get in the way
of doing things (congested/difficult UI for instance) they will
increase the overall potential to keep the players.

You can reduce downtime by doing things like... make renting a room
at an inn give much enhanced regeneration... give players to do
things while regenerating... etc.  You could allow instant
transportation between known locations in the world (fixed portals),
sure you get around "faster" than manually walking, but you still
have to do some walking (generally alot), it both decreases downtime
for traveling, and if the portals are well placed forces at least
some downtime.  Additionally, if each portal is only 2 way, then
knowledge of what portals you need to walk through becomes an issue,
and busy portal points become a place for socialization.  Naturally
there's still some travel time, and there's a barrier to entry in
that you must know where the portals are.

Increased diversity of skill sets can both increase and decrease
interdependance... rather than simply needing a cleric to do a job,
there may be 3 or 4 types of players who can fill the role, perhaps
not as effeciently...  I personally prefer more classless sytems
where you can either directly or indirectly choose your own skill
set.

The biggest problem with diversity is the difficulty of balance.
Which is possible over time by adding options to the other sides and
of course the time honored "tweaking"

-- Kwon J. Ekstrom


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