[MUD-Dev] MMORPGs & MUDs

[Madrona Tree]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at soe.sony.com>

> Players will do things that are not fun, because we the designers
> reward them for doing it. And then they bitch mightily. But if we
> reward them enough, they keep doing it. Even when we tell them to
> stop and go *have fun* they won't, by and large.

It's because folks want to win, you know?  Just don't make the path
to success suck, and that particular problem will take care of
itself.  ;)

> Often, it's MORE [fun], in which case you should embrace it. I
> think that The Sims is practically a poster child for this.

I love The Sims.  :)

> I have no idea for a single character. The play patterns for
> players with multiple characters are something I should look into
> more. Do people tend to have a "favorite" and how much more play
> time does it get versus others? How many play multiples, and how
> many of those multiples are rarely played?  Hmm.

That would be REALLY interesting data.  It may help solve the "one
character slot per server" debate.  However, I don't think you could
use the data from EQ and apply it to Star Wars, for example.  In EQ
you are essentially "punished" for playing an Alternate (not
Multiple, btw ;)), as any time you spend playing Alts, while your
main is less than level 60 is semi-discouraged by peers... and
pretty much completely discouraged by Verant, who designs the game
in a fairly linear "gold at the end of the rainbow" path.  If you
veer off, the gold is that much further away.  Of course, this is
unattractive, even to the most casual player.

What I mean is... be sure you are comparing Oranges to Oranges.  But
I am fairly certain that even in UO and non-level-treadmill games,
people have a "favorite" ... and dabble in other things just to
dabble in other things.  Except for the people who play 24/7 -- they
just have multiple favorites.  :)

Madrona Tree.
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