"Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (Re: [MUD-Dev] MMORPGs & MUDs)

[Travis Casey]

On Friday 01 February 2002 8:11, Michael Tresca wrote:
> Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2002 10:15
> AM

>> Aside from the issue of being more or less advanced. Which way do
>> player evolve (or devolve depending on your viewpoint), or do
>> they change style at all?

> This one's easy.  You can use observed experience and your
> personal experience as examples:

> Observed experience: What age are the twinks?  There's a reason we
> joke about twelve-year olds playing.  Powergamers, griefers, GOPs
> aren't limited to, but can certainly be entered by, a younger set.
> This group is easy to enter, easy to leave, and very common
> because of its ease of entry.  Competition isn't necessarily a
> mature activity.  It doesn't necessarily require life experience.
> Many people can relate to it.

Just a note: the same thing applies in paper-and-pencil RPGs.  The
term "munchkin" for players obsessed with "winning the game" rather
than playing for fun arose because of the observation that very
young players are disproportionately represented in that category.

> Personal experience: I started gaming on single-player games
> killing stuff.  I can easily transport that experience to MMORPGs.
> I was TRAINED by those other games.  Those other "kill 'em all"
> games were common long before MMORPGs (or even MUDs) came along.

And not just computer games.  Most board and card games, which are
often the first games that people are exposed to as children, are
set up where there is one winner and everyone else loses.  Because
of this, most paper RPGs go to great lengths to point out that the
goal is supposed to be for all players to have fun playing, not to
"win" in any way.  And even then, it takes a long time for many
people to "get it".

Final note: I'm not talking about roleplaying here, even though the
thread has been mostly about roleplaying.  One can roleplay and
still view a game as win/lose, and one can not roleplay and view it
as "let's all have fun".

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_     Travis S. Casey  <efindel at earthlink.net>
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