[MUD-Dev] Removing access to entertainment

[John Buehler]

Daniel Harman writes:
> From: John Buehler [mailto:johnbue at msn.com]

>> Exactly.  So don't put exploration experiences beyond the
>> dragon. This is the very point of game design that I'm trying to
>> pursue. That if we *ignore* the notion that an entire game is
>> only one type of entertainment, then there must be a mix of
>> entertainment types in that game.  If that is true, and if
>> players tend to focus on one entertainment type at a time, then I
>> assume the following:

> So are you voting for 2 dimensional dragons then? ;) Even if the
> dragon lives in a small cave, explorers will moan that they can't
> safely walk around it.

> More fundamentally, if you have a game predicated on advancement,
> I don't see how you can offer all content to people who opt out of
> that advancement.  Its just fundamentally incompatible. Aren't we
> just rehashing the thread a few months past where we had similar
> arguments for & against ghost modes?

I'm not suggesting that a game predicated on advancement should be
accessible for exploration entertainment.  My reason for talking
about the dragon and exploration is ONLY to observe that a dragon is
an achievement experience and as a result should not be a
prerequisite to an exploration experience.  In a game predicated on
achievement, it doesn't have much in the way of exploration
experiences, so it doesn't apply to that game.

I'll observe that only something like current FPS games, with small,
easily-memorized maps and so much action that socialization is
impossible are truly predicated on achievement.  The massively
multiplayer genre has plenty of exploration and socialization to it.
With that in mind, it would suggest that exploration experiences
should not be a prerequisite to achievement experiences, and so on.

This is how I got started with mesmerization, boat rides and dark
screens.  Things that are not part of my entertainment experience
shouldn't be a prerequisite to it.  In the case of mesmerization and
dark screens, they aren't entertaining at all.  They are devoid of
entertainment, so they shouldn't be a prerequisite to any form of
entertainment.

When it comes to mixing forms of entertainment, it should be clear
to the designers when socialization, exploration, achievement and
killing (and possibly many other aspects that have nothing to do
with the Bartle types) are being presented to players.  Once they
know, they should be able to avoid having dissimilar entertainment
types as mandatory prerequisites.  Don't make realtime boat rides a
prerequisite to killing mob A.  It's realistic, but is it
entertaining?

JB
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