[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

[Marc Fielding]

[ Michael Tresca ]
> Marc Fielding posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 2:33 AM
 
>> It may "build character", but is it fun? SCS is an attempt to fix
>> various (negligible) "abuses" of gameplay by a minority of
>> players at the expense of a popular playstyle for a casual
>> gamers.
 
> Wow, here's a broom to go with your sweeping statement.  Can't
> argue it because you didn't lay valid framework for that argument.

LOL. I made that generality because we've gone over much of this
already. You and I fundamentally disagree on some core aspects of
MMORPG gaming. I've seen arguments similar to yours before, and IMHO
it seems to stem from an inability to accept that "Realism != Fun".

>> MMOG games are about escapism. Yes, there need to be rules and
>> restrictions, but playing it doesn't need to be *work*.

> And by that logic, players shouldn't:

>   - Die, because death is no fun.

>   - Take damage, because nobody likes to get hurt.

>   - Have to pay for anything, because the best things in life are
>   free.

No, it doesn't follow. That's why I included the need for "rules and
restrictions" on gameplay. It's a design *spectrum*, not a
coin-flip.

> To quote the Matrix:

>   "Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect
>   human world? Where none suffered. Where everyone would be
>   happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the
>   program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked
>   the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I
>   believe that as a species, human beings define their reality
>   through misery and suffering. The perfect world was a dream that
>   your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from."

Actually, in my opinion this was the *worst* bit of dialogue and
backstory from the film. Going through all the trouble of
maintaining and policing human neural activity just to support power
generation?  *rolls eyes* That's like using SCS to combat
insignificant abuses by a minority of players in a MMOG! ;)

BTW here's a better setup: networked human minds ARE the Matrix! The
Machine Intelligence doesn't just need humans for their bio-energy,
but also for their neural processing power. This would give
legitimacy to Agent Smith (killer of runaway processes), Neo's new
skills (Ring 0 access privileges), and the simulated world itself
(idle cycle consumption).

It would also provide a clever explanation for the mythical
assertion that "humans only use 10% of their brains."  Of course
they do, because the remainder is allocated to the Matrix.

Can you tell this is a pet-peeve of mine? ;)

-Marc
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