[MUD-Dev] Importance of graphic in different stages of gaming

[Damion Schubert]

From: Edward Glowacki

> This is a tangent on the recent thread on "The importance of
> graphics". It's based on my own personal experience and biases, so
> take everything with a grain of salt. =)
 
> I'd argue that a typical player (or user of any software for that
> matter) goes through a series of phases, each one focusing on a
> different part of the product.
 
>   1. Pre-purchase.
>   2. Initial impression.
>   3. Mid-term gaming.
>   4. Long-term gaming.

Fascinating.  If I had to tweak these a bit, I'd break them into the
following themes:

  1) Static art.  Wow, these screen shots look cool.  The monsters
  look cool.  The particles and fireballs look cool.  The box looks
  cool.  I'll buy it.

  2) Art in motion.  This is where you notice a lot of little things
  - the way the grass bends in the wind, the animations that a
  player performs, the way a fireball spirals to its target.  This
  is the 'sizzle' factor.  I'll stick around to see what else there
  is to see.

  3) Content amount.  Oooh, a new area I haven't seen before.  A
  monster I haven't fought before.  Something to see and explore.

  4) Customizability.  I want to turn off grass blowing in the wind
  now because it interferes with my frame rate in guild wars.  I
  want to never see a spell book icon because I have no spells.  I
  want the interface to suit my needs, and the art to bend to the
  specifications of my machine and my play style.

Of course, this is a gross over-simplification, but then, aren't
all of these observations?

--d

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