[MUD-Dev] ghost mode

[Amanda Walker]

Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com wrote:

> I understand your reluctance to get onto a treadmill. I've stopped
> playing MMOs myself because I've lost all tolerance too. I just
> don't see any way of making a game compelling if you give the
> players every facet of gameplay as soon as they instantiate the
> character. Even single player games keep things back as a reward,
> and they don't have anything like the content problems that MMOs
> do!

Chess, Quake3/UT/CS/etc., Go.  Monopoly.  Poker.  Most "games" do,
in fact, give the players every facet of gameplay mechanics and let
them see the entire playing field before they start the game.

I maintain that if merely seeing something in advance spoils it as
content, this shows a problem with content and gameplay depth, not
with the ability to see it.

All of my example games above are PvP, which is not an accident, but
the same applies to AI opponents if they're any good.  Watching
someone else default the Uber Orc Emperor may give you ideas, but it
doesn't tell you how *you* will fare--unless the Uber Orc Emperor is
a simple combination lock ("stand here, send in pet, fire n shots,
have enchanter set him on fire, done.").

I really dislike simple combination locks.  Linear gameplay seems to
me to be a sign of lazy content design, or of mistaking a virtual
world for a movie.

Look at the things that players tell stories about to each other,
even in achievement-ladder games: it's not what reward they got
next--everyone knows that, after all.  It's the unscripted stuff
that no one predicted.  Madcap corpse recovery, respawns that took
someone by surprise while they were gabbing with their group,
someone falling off a bridge, whatever.  None of these things are
(or at least, should be) at all predictable by watching someone else
go through the same ride.

> But my point is that you won't be playing if everything is handed
> to you on a plate. Do you honestly think the players of DAoC,
> Lineage, EQ, SWG et al.  would keep playing if the axis of
> achievement were removed?

Actually, I'd probably still be playing EQ or DAoC if there were a
way to climb up the achievement hill to catch up with my friends.
That "axis of achievement" is the main reason I didn't keep playing.

> Ok, you've just demonstrated you are a gfx junkie. That's
> problematic for a game which intends to have a >3 year liftetime!

Er, graphic updates are an established idiom in the industry--EQ and
DAoC are fine examples...

> I'd much rather keep you interested with a controlled
> dissemination of content.

> I know my post might make me sound like a bit of a hard core DIKU
> style guy.  I'm not, but I firmly disagree with this monty haul
> approach to game design that's being espoused.

The carefully scripted, linear advancing progressive disclosure of
content *is* a "monty haul" approach.  The only thing interesting
about the content is what's in the next box.

Amanda Walker
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