[MUD-Dev] Expected value and standard deviation.

[John Buehler]

Amanda Walker writes:

> I like the entertainer/musician stuff in SWG.  After a few hours
> of learning how it worked, it became clear that it would be great
> fun if I had the widest variety of options available (instruments,
> tunes, effects, etc.).  In SWG, there's only one route to this
> (not counting bug exploits): punching a time card for hours and
> hours and hours of in-game time.  There's only one way to that
> goal, and it becomes boring well before it accomplishes anything.
> It's not a matter of optimization: the game is structured so that
> boring repetition is the only thing that is rewarded (in this
> respect, at least).  Only one path, no risk, no quests or other
> risk/bonus gambles, just an utterly predictable time clock.

> Luckily, I like to talk, so I set up macros to do the boring part
> and spent 6 weeks of casual but regular gameplay running those and
> otherwise treating the game as a chat room.  Would I have taken a
> less predictable path if it were available?  You bet.
> Unfortunately, this particular reward (in-game performance
> options) are given solely based on odometer reading.  If there's a
> desirable goal with only one path to it, that path is going to
> become very well trodden by people interested in that goal.  On
> the flip side, of course, is that if there are alternate paths,
> the achievers will figure out (and post web walkthroughs of) the
> least-effort path.

It has always been in the back of my mind that it would be very
revealing to produce a game where every action could be automated by
any player.  Which actions players choose to perform manually would
be indicative of interest, I would think.  The players would then
have a means of indicating to the game designers what they found
entertaining in a very blunt way.

Obviously your post reminded me of this.  You were faced with a
barrier to the entertainment you wanted, so you hurdled the barrier
with automation.

JB
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