[MUD-Dev] Player Created Content - The Holy Grail?

[Matthew Dobervich]

Lawrence Poe Wrote:

> I've yet to see player generated content work in a commercially
> successful MMO, yet I always hear people refer to it as the holy
> grail. What am I missing here? I'm not saying that empowering the
> players to create their own content isn't a good thing. I just
> feel that it is currently an unknown and far from being the be all
> end all of MMO's

We might have a different definition of player generated content.  I
define player generated content as anything one player creates in
game that adds to another player's game experience.  So yes, this
would include crude forms of expression such as players arranging
colored bits of cloth as pixels in UO to create pictures, or player
events such as weddings, scavenger hunts, etc.

It may be relatively unexplored territory in persistant world game
systems (home decoration in UO withstanding), but it's hardly
unexplored territory in games.

I'm also a little tired of player created content being held up as
the Holy Grail of persistent worlds, but for a very different
reason.  There are a lot of very compelling game systems involving
player created content in existence already.  What's the huge hurdle
for persistent worlds?  I'd love to hear 'em, there isn't one hurdle
I've heard that doesn't have a cost effective workaround.

In my experience players want to create and share their creations
more than any other form of game play in persistent worlds in the
long term.

Here's a short list of games that illustrate very effective and
compelling player created content game mechanics.

Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast, soon Xbox) - The graphic emote
creation system The Sims (PC) - Home decoration Animal Crossing
(Gamecube) - Design creator, music creator, home decoration (Any
MUD/MMO developer should play this game IMHO) Jet Set Radio/Future
(Dreamcast/Xbox) - Graffiti creator

The game mechanics in these titles are very simple, and consist of
providing the player a set of building blocks that they can
construct their creations out of.  These systems would be
exponentially more rewarding with the massively expanded audience
provided by a persistent world.

I believe that players would go to extreme lengths and find great
enjoyment from hunting for more building blocks in the game.  Better
yet, require teamwork to find building blocks, and even better yet,
force players to "max out" with a relatively small subset of all
available building blocks, thus forcing players to work together in
the act of creation as well.



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