[MUD-Dev] Mass customization in MM***s

[Matt Mihaly]

On 31 Jul 2002, Sasha Hart wrote:
> [Matt Mihaly]
 
>> Well, that's fair enough, though I'd appreciate it if you'd drop
>> the slander, as neither you nor I should be the subject of
>> anything discussed here, but rather the ideas we're speaking
>> about.
 
> I'm sorry, that wasn't intended to be slander. The comment about
> delicacy was actually intended to be sarcastic as I've always
> perceived you as being extremely thick-skinned to
> criticism. (However, I see you making few apologies for the design
> decisions below - which is as it should be).  That was much too
> informal on my part, and I am nothing but sorry for the
> misstep. :/

No problem. As much my fault for missing the sarcasm!
 
>> I'm not claiming that nobody is made unhappy by our political
>> systems, because they CAN make your life miserable, but they are
>> one thing that most of our long-time players love, [...]
 
> You seemed skeptical of the claim, so I made an attempt (poorly
> managed, in retrospect) to provide a firm and substantial example
> of the problem, in a nutshell. I interpret the above as basically
> total acknowledgement of the problem, but a denial that it is
> crippling. I would tend to agree, especially in light of the
> ongoing success of games which incorporate the idea in one way or
> another.

I'd say your interpretation is correct. It definitely happens, but
not often enough to make us want to water down the system. In fact,
all of our future plans call for increased power in the hands of
player-run political systems.
 
> What I hope I can convey is that at least some people some of the
> time will not like it. Some eggs are broken. Does that matter? Up
> to you. I guess I didn't express this adequately in my preceding
> post.

Oh, no doubt, but I can't think of any decision that at least some
people some of the time will be upset about. That criteria alone
would paralyse your decision making process. As you say, some eggs
are broken, but some eggs are also broken with any other
model. Everquest's decision to focus more or less solely on bashing
broke me as an egg for them, for instance, as I'm not interested in
that. I doubt they're crying in their milk though.
 
>> I so often see things speculated on here when they've already
>> been done, usually in multiple places (I see it more often from
>> people who didn't start playing MUDs until the big graphical ones
>> came out. You should check out text MUDs even if for the sake of
>> just understanding where the graphical MUDs evolved ;from.

> There is creativity in text games which the graphical games will
> still be afraid to try or apply for years to come. Too much is at
> stake. I think exploration, including the trial of design ideas
> which are chancy, interesting, counterintuitive, which break a few
> other eggs in order to make a different kind of omelette - is both
> vastly interesting, and vastly useful. Text games still have a
> near monopoly on exploration of the design space (IMO) even if
> their scope tends to be much more limited (unless we consider the
> hobbyist/amateur, in which case text games win out again - there
> are really so few established hobbyist graphical games).

Well, that's true to some extent, but I think we're seeing real
innovation on the graphical front too. Shadowbane's group vs. group
system, while not revolutionary, seems likely to be one of the most
comprehensively-implemented such systems, and I think Star Wars and
TSO are likely to be counted as innovators when they come out, aside
from expanding the market and whatnot.

I think graphical MUDs can innovate, they just have to be a little
more methodical about it as there's so much more at stake, as you
said.
 
> Achaea is a successful game which nonetheless tries a number of
> strange and interesting ideas.  As a consumer of designs this is
> what I have the highest respect for, and have the most use for -
> successful (even unsuccessful) explorations.) My observation that
> some eggs have been broken isn't intended to be a slander on the
> game.

It's ok, it wasn't taken as a slander on the game. I could talk to
you for hours about all the problems Achaea has. =)
 
--matt


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