[MUD-Dev] Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation)

[Paul Schwanz]

Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com wrote:

> Oh come off it, the average player is utterly incapable of
> creating content anyone but their mum would be interested in. Even
> professionals frequently get it wrong.

> Enough hand waving, someone show me some compelling auto generated
> content, or compelling player generated content in a commercially

I think that player-generated content is often much too narrowly
defined.  To me, *PvP* is player-generated content.  I'd also
consider culture, society, political entities, etc. to be
player-generated content.  Any game that supports city-building
would also, in my mind, support a type of player-generated content.
I think that between what the designer puts out as pure static
content and what players are allowed to offer as pure static content
is a whole range of stuff that is more of a collaborative effort,
often where the developer lays down rules and boundaries within
which the player can create something of interest.  Sure, you can go
to the extreme end of this range and talk about creating models and
texture maps and how the vast majority of players are incapable of
creating these things, let alone doing them well, but I think such a
narrow definition can make us miss some really plausible
possibilities for player-generated content.

Allowing a player to role-play a pirate attacking a coastal village
might be one example of player-generated content.  Allowing players
to *be* pirates who can attack coastal villages is another, and much
preferred in my estimation.

What if player-generated content were more like lego blocks.
Perhaps initially a player is only able to use large/high level
blocks to put together something creative.  As that player advances,
perhaps she is trusted to use smaller/lower level building blocks.
This would be a great place to use a reputation system that
predicated advancement on player (and even developer) feedback
regarding previous creations.  Trusted players eventually move
toward that infinite possibility space discussed earlier in this
thread.

Perhaps this same sort of mechanism is used at a community level.
So, initially, a community might only be able to place certain
pre-built structures in its little village.  When it reaches a
higher level, perhaps it will be allowed to make slight changes to
those structures.  Eventually, once higher levels of trust are
established, perhaps it can pick from a great number or textures and
assemble buildings from smaller and smaller pieces.  Initially,
perhaps it is able to select from a small number of themes for
background noise, or music to play when others enter the city.
Eventually, perhaps it can select from a number of sounds and music
to craft its own theme.  Perhaps something like a Cultural rating
(once again based on a trust or reputation system) is used to help
determine community advancement along this particular axis.

--Phin
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