[MUD-Dev] Casual player socialization (was: Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server)

[John Buehler]

Ted L. Chen writes:
> John Buehler wrote:

>> Random comment time, I guess.

> Random comments are fun! :)

Good.  I think most of mine seem to be pretty random :)

>> Casual players are those that spend a modest amount of time
>> playing a game.  Typically, games don't leave characters
>> available for interaction while the players are inactive.  I've
>> been wondering whether socialization would be improved for casual
>> players if they were able to do the equivalent of email through
>> characters.

>> But I'm assuming that if Andy says something to Bob, then you
>> should receive that message as a kind of 'offline message' - to
>> take from Yahoo IM's terminology (and perhaps chat systems in
>> general).

>> Given such an implementation, casual players are able to
>> socialize, but at a far slower pace.

> If I get you right, would something along the lines of buffered
> chat do?  AO does this and allows for you to message anyone at
> anytime, online or not.

Yup.  Buffered chat.  In Yahoo instant messaging, which is the
implementation that springs to mind, they are called 'offline
messages'.

> However, from my personal experience (i.e. highly anecdotal), I
> don't think it actually promotes that much extra socialization
> since you tend to want to keep buffered messages short.  It's
> partially due to the implementation - too much and it floods the
> screen - and possibly also in part to the fact that its so
> juxtaposed to live chat conversation.  In essence, most buffered
> chat messages turn out to be of the 'ping: I need to talk to you.
> Let me know when you're on.' variety.  Much like a beeper or short
> voice-mail message.

My own anecdote in Yahoo instant messaging is that we fire off
thoughts about whatever is on our mind that we might like to share.
Status updates and such.  Or just something that happened that day.
I'm sure this is very much a question of personal style.

> Mind you, I do think something like this should be a minimum
> requirement in any system; sometimes a beeper-style message like
> the above is enough.  However, it doesn't really solve the problem
> of making that initial contact.  At least, a strong enough contact
> that you would send such a terse message to.

I would argue vehemently against a beeper-style message.  I quite
intentionally suggested that talking to an autopilot character be
the means of getting a message to a player because it retains the
fiction of the game, it leverages the existing mechanisms for
conversation (i.e. speak to a character), and it also ensures that
the feature is not structured by the developers for a specific
purpose.  I'm suggesting that conversations that take place that
involve a player's character should be made available to that player
when the player is ready to play again.  I'm not suggesting a
specific use of that feature.

>> If Bob is a crafter and Andy needs some item, that request can be
>> made, even when you aren't controlling Bob.  When you come back
>> online, the request for the item will appear and you can decide
>> whether to make the item.  If you make it, it's certainly within
>> the realm of reason to permit Bob to turn that item over to Andy
>> for a sum of money without you actively controlling Bob.

> Pesky problems with interfaces aside, this is something I would
> have loved as a shopkeeper.  Built-in FedExing ;)

But note that there is no shipment involved.  You may have been
speaking lightly of the notion, but the model being suggested is to
permit two characters to conduct business within the fiction of the
game - where one is on autopilot (the controlling player is absent).
The two characters still have to get together in the game world in
order to physically exchange goods and money.

I'd be interested in hearing what the pesky problems with the
interfaces would be.  I'm imagining a game that uses a conventional
trade mechanism (e.g. EverQuest's) that is simply primed by the
crafting character's player to accept payment and offer goods
according to a predetermined exchange.  So only the 'setup' would be
needed.  And I assume that the setup could be applied more
generically to cover contracts between characters - beyond handling
the offline/autopilot case.

>> But I'm digressing as usual.  The base notion is to keep all
>> characters in the game world all the time and to let what is said
>> to a character of an absentee player reach that player when they
>> return to the game software (or possibly just receive regular
>> emails).  The goal is to enhance the sense of community for
>> casual players.

> You don't necessarily need to keep the character physically
> in-game all the time.  But I guess you could have meant it
> metaphysically, as in keeping characters reachable at all times.
> Going bluesky myself, I might also throw in a suggestion for a
> daily-digest of messages sent to the player's email box if they
> choose so.  Here's hoping for the MMOG that no one ever needs to
> log into ;)

I very definitely meant keeping all characters physically in the
game world all the time.  I want players to see a single way of
interacting with the game, modified only by the player's
understanding that things will be delayed when the controlling
player is not present in the game world.

The digest that you suggest would be a nice addition.  I can imagine
instant messages being fired off to the player if they are running
the 'absentee' interface.  That is, if I'm doing other things and
want a low-resource-cost way of keeping track of anything going on
with my character, I can run that instant messaging interface.  It
permits me to converse with a character in the game world, even
though I'm not actually running my character.  In short, I'm only
running the chat form of the game.  Naturally, the next step is to
permit configuration of the game interface to include any given set
of game functionality.  Perhaps chat plus trade.  Perhaps only a map
display, updated every minute with the location of my character.

Playing a game need not mean full immersion in it.

Naturally, this only applies to games that operate at a slower pace
than current hack-'n-slash games, and probably only to games that
don't encourage (or possibly even permit) character killing.  For
example, a trade world with non-lethal martial fighting.

JB


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