[MUD-Dev] Re: MMO Communities

[Michael Sellers]

Jeff Freeman wrote:
> From: HRose
>> Jeff Freeman:

>>> I play with the one or two other people that I came to play
>>> with, and if the game forces me to play alone or with people
>>> other than those, then I quit.

>> Ha, yes. But let's say that those two other peoples decide to
>> stay in a game you don't really like, what you'll do?

> In my case, that just doesn't happen.  There's really one other
> person that I play MMO's with, and in any particular game we might
> or might not pick up a third.  But the two of us just don't really
> play without one another.  Inconceivable.

>> Here we are considering the subscriptions numbers at an high
>> level. Not many peoples play with one or two friends.

> Seems fairly common, to me.

This shows the danger of reasoning from our own preferences and
experiences to those of hundreds of thousands or millions of others.
I can tell you instance after instance of people who have stopped
'playing' an MMOG and yet who continue to pay and visit because of
the social connections there.  I believe Amy Jo Kim's research some
years back showed the same thing.  And I'd be willing to bet that
Raph's empirical data shows this as well.  Whether Raph or Amy or I
happen to play that way is pretty much irrelevant.

There are no doubt those who play for a long time and don't make
significant new social bonds; but these are by far the exception and
not the rule.  If retaining more subscribers for longer is a goal,
one of the best ways to do this is to provide an environment that
strongly encourages social interaction and bonding.

Mike Sellers
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