RE: Réf. : RE: [MUD-Dev] Mass cus tomization in MM*** s

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

From: Yannick.Jean at csst.qc.ca [mailto:Yannick.Jean at csst.qc.ca]
> From: Raph Koster
 
>> But are casual players who do not group (eg, who form no social
>> ties) going to stick anyway?
 
> I cannot talk for the masses, but I sure did play all the major
> MMORPG out there for 6-8 month each and I always kept a special
> kind of hate for the pressure associated with grouping (granted, I
> am the not the "I played the same game for 2 year" type). If you
> want to provide casual, average joe, entertainement, please forget
> the whole "My game cannot be satisfyingly experienced without a
> generous amount of social interactions" trend...

I disagree intensely. When your recommendation is implemented, you
end up with the Anarchy Online feel and a million players (ok thats
optimistic...)  who don't talk to each other, or feel any real
compulsion to do so. If people don't need to group to make progress,
they won't - however easy you try to make forming a group, its
always going to take longer than soloing.

As you acknowledge, 6-8 months isn't actually a very long tie-in
either.  These games seem to have a 3+ years life expectancy and 6
months in, who knows if they'd even have recouped the investment. If
its a choice between forcing people to make social bonds (even if a
few players are lost on the way) and pleasing people for 6 months
who will then move on, I don't think its too difficult a decision.

Games in the mold of NWN and even Diablo II are better placed to
server that demographic.

Dan
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