[MUD-Dev] Re: MMO Communities

[Ashley Penney]

Randolf Richardson wrote:

>> would crave for. The better solution is to design the reward
>> systems so that solo-play is a valid activity while looking for
>> interesting people to team up with and make substantial pay-offs
>> for teaming up (40% more XP for all, or something similar).

> Actually, I think 40% is rather high and could create an unfair
> balance from the perspective of those who don't participate in
> team playing at all [no matter what their reason(s)] -- it almost
> seems like casual players who wish to increase their levels
> quickly still have to get involved in team playing to keep up, and
> that could be discouraging to such a player.

> I also wouldn't be suprised if casual players began building teams
> with the sole intention of gaining these experience points and
> then disbanding the team once they no longer needed it, thus the
> team system is sort of being circumvented and not being used for
> what was obviously intended -- true team playing between players
> who really want to participate in a game in this way (at least I'm
> assuming that's why someone would go to all the trouble of setting
> up a team- based environment).

> I think that if teams are going to be implemented, there should be
> alternative non-team options for those who prefer to proceed as
> "independents."  Obviously some things will only be possible to
> experience as a team, and that's okay because many players
> probably don't experience every aspect of a virtual world anyway,
> but a good game in my opinion will have enough variety to make it
> more interesting for many different types of players.  From a
> business perspective this is probably better for maintaining a
> larger overall player base anyway.

If people really want to "force" cooperative play and try to build
teams of people playing together, why not implement a method whereby
the longer you are teamed together, the greater the XP raise.

At first, when you form a group, you get no XP raise at all.  After
an hour together, raise that to 5%, and then slide upwards as the
team works together over weeks and months.  Just remember who you've
grouped with in the past, so that it's not per session, and that way
there's an incentive to stick together, even if some people are
progressing faster than others.

--
Ashp.
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