[MUD-Dev] Expected value and standard deviation.

[Fidelio Gwaihir]

<EdNote: Quoting and attribution fixed>

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 20:27:12 +0000
Dark Lamenth <lamenth at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Raph Koster writes:

> Players who wish to measure themselves against other players will
> invariably take the fastest road to their objective within the
> reasonable limits of tedium. An environment where PvP conflict
> occurs or frankly any environment where players mainly measure
> themselves against other players is likely to strongly support
> Mr. Koster's assertions above.

> Example: We all play pac-man. I have a high-score of 2 million
> points, you have a score of 1 million point. You discover that if
> you shuffle between 2 close-by points in pac-man the ghosts will
> never get you. You then shuffle between these 2 points over and
> over for 12 hours to achieve a score of 30 million points. Thus
> advancing in game levels beyond where anyone else has, despite
> your lack of actually experiencing the game.

Excellent analogies.  Neither of these methods are not boring.  In
the case of the first example, yes I believe this to be the case
.. but ONLY to achieve the goal of competiting with peers that they
wish to compete with, for the purpose of a better gameplay
experience.

In the second example .. well .. this is really more like a
pole-sitting contest.  He who hath the greatest endurance, wins.  Of
course, it would be BETTER to get that 30 million points the hard
way, which was knowing all of those patterns to the mazes of 99
levels, and having the reflexes to react accordingly.

Advancement is a driving factor in ALL games, but it is NOT
gameplay.  Gameplay is the experience itself while you are
advancing, and all advancement should be for the purpose of making
the gameplay more intense, and not easier or more boring.

I was going to cite examples from Everquest .. but I think we all
(mostly anyway) know that one, so I'm not going to beat that horse.
Out of courtesy to Mr. Koster, nor am I going to cite what I
personally think is good or bad gameplay in SWG.

I think at its core, good gameplay is a puzzle .. or puzzle's in
general.  Whether they be mental excercises that require few steps
to complete or reaction excercises, because I think they are really
all the same.

The problem with puzzles, is that once solved .. or one cheats and
buys a book for .. they become extremely boring, unless they are
more action based that have variables thrown in to keep the gameplay
fresh.  Like .. what do you do when you get 'trained' on the Plane
of Valor?  In a sense, the moves that the team executes to de-rail
that train (unless they run like dogs), is a puzzle.  Certain moves
will do certain things almost every single time, but the fact that
events such as these are random and unexpected (or so they seem),
make them interesting .. and potentially frustrating.  Ah hell, I
cited Everquest.

But even frustrating things can be a part of good gameplay design.
Death's are great at building stress.  Losing items is often
regarded as excessive.  Corpse runs tick you off .. but they make
you want to get even .. which is .. is that advancement? or is that
problem solving?

I guess really the whole problem with "Advancement" is that it is
being laid out to the game as "THE" problem, in which gamers find
easy solutions for, especially on level or points based systems.

-SGT
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