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

[Marc Fielding]

[Marian Griffith]

> Only if the game is shaped like a 'race' with a specific goal in
> mind that the players must reach.  Then you will attract (some)
> players who want to reach the finish first, and in the quickest
> possible way.
 
> If on the other hand you set the game with a multitude of goals,
> and set (social) interaction as the primary attraction, then the
> efficiency of a character will mean next to nothing and the dri-
> ve to optimise will never (strongly) develop within the player
> base.  Of course if you do so you will have to retrain an entire
> generation of players who grew up with a game shaped as a con-
> test and not as a culture or society.

You'll also have to excise the very human trait of "status-seeking."
Some people will tend to make a competition out of everything:
career, material wealth, sexuality, politics, and those are just in
the real world! As long as there is a chain of improving character
state, you will have "races" and "contests." If certain stats
optimize a player's progress towards any of those goals, they will
be optimized.

Take EQ for example. No finish line exists. You can't "win" the
game.  Still, the playerbase establishes its own forms of status
(e.g. items, wealth, etc.) and the race begins.

Even Sims Online, a socialization-focused game, will have intense
competitions for the biggest house, coolest decorations, most
friends, most simoleans, etc.

You just can't get away from it.

-Marc





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