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

[Michael Tresca]

Marc Fielding posted on Monday, December 23, 2002 3:35 PM

> With budgets for commercial MMORPGs climbing into the tens of
> millions, developers don't have the luxury of limiting their
> target market. The industry is currently engaged in a "land rush"
> for customers. Many new ideas are tried, and many will fail. Most
> customers have no real incentive to stay put, as there is always
> something new arriving on the scene in "two weeks."

Sure they do.  The land rush is over.  There are 20+ MMORPGs coming
out.  The populations are already spread across four of them (Ultima
Online, Dark Ages of Camelot, Everquest, Asheron's Call) and a few
others (Anarchy Online, WWII Online).  The only markets that will be
left ARE niche markets.

And of course, the very existence of the Star Wars universe
relegates it to more of a niche market than any of the above
MMORPGs.  Okay, WWII Online is pretty specific.  But the top four
are generic fantasy.

> You're there to play Star Wars? Great. So is the powergamer who
> wants all those "l33t Jedi skillz." So is the socializer who wants
> nothing more than to hang out in a cantina. So is the explorer who
> just wants to complete the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

> The Star Wars setting is simply a stage upon which players live
> out their fantasies.

I fundamentally disagree.  Star Wars at some level is separated from
science fantasy.  What is that distinction?  How much can the
playerbase metagame before they dilute the setting?

If everyone uses "l33t Jedi skillz" is it Star Wars anymore?  Not in
my opinion.

So there are boundaries.  Extreme powergamers are beyond those
boundaries in my opinion.

> MMORPGs development is a balance between developer Vision
> (*genuflects*) and player desires. Lean too far towards your brand
> of Vision and you risk alienating the large number of people who
> don't subscribe to "Roleplaying Über Alles."

> To paraphrase Princess Leia:

>   "The more you tighten your grip, Grand Moff Tresca, the more
>   customers will slip through your fingers."

> If your response is "Good riddance!", that's fine. Just be
> prepared for your game to be relegated to "niche market" status.

Finally, I've been escalated to Grand Moff.  About time people
recognized my megalomania! :)

Seriously, Star Wars as a niche market will still make disgusting
amounts of money.  And for the long term viability of the MMORPG
when there will be another 20+ choices competing choices, niche
market is critical to survival.

> Today's "vanilla" product (as you put it) serves a purpose. It
> provides a taste of MMO gaming to the public. From this seemingly
> homogeneous mass of humanity will come new generations of
> roleplayers, socializers, explorers, and, yes, powergamers.

Yes, I agree. I'm contesting that Star Wars is not a vanilla product
because 1) it is a franchise with a very detailed history, 2) people
who are not traditional gamers will play it.

Ultima Online and co. can be the gateway drug.  The next generation
of MMORPGs will refine their content even more and it's very likely
the various groups will segment to certain game types.  Which is
just fine with me.

> Those newly minted roleplayers will seek refined experiences,
> similar to what you provide with LegendMUD. In time their numbers
> will grow until they become sufficient to (perhaps) sustain a
> successful MMORPG.

I'm not affiliated with LegendMUD, btw.

>> If enough people mule, I as a socializer cannot find other people
>> to group with.

> Who are you kidding? From your statements I'd say you're more
> roleplayer than socializer. ;)

I'm exhibiting rather strong social tendencies by arguing my points
with this community, I imagine.

> That's because you provide a tailored, intimate experience that a
> certain kind of mature player appreciates. That doesn't mean you
> can scale that up to the mainstream MMORPG level at this point in
> time.

I've argued this point before, but to put it briefly: there are
large scale dynamics used to govern populations in existence now.  I
work for a Fortune 5 company.  I know how it works.  It's worked for
years.  MMORPGs are refusing to embrace the peoplepower and expense
necessary to govern their populations.  Thus, anarchy and chaos
ensues.

You CAN scale that intimate experience.  It just takes a lot of
investment to do it and right now, it's not cost effective because
everyone was caught up in the gold rush.  That's coming to an end
and more personalized, "mature" MMORPGs are on the horizon.

> BTW, I briefly checked out your RetroMUD website. The "Notes"
> section on the left of the start page indicates that "Multiple
> characters [are] allowed." How do you prevent the "abuse" that
> disturbs you so? ;)

This explains it better:
http://216.86.139.21:3003/cgi/help?=Legal/multi-playing

We do have issues with multiplayers, but our populace is highly
intolerant of muling and helps weed out those who abuse the system.

And of course, we notice when five characters in a party that never
talk to each other go linkdead at the same time from the same IP
address.

Mike "Talien" Tresca
RetroMUD Administrator
http://www.retromud.org/talien



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