[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[Tom "cro" Gordon]

Friday, August 6, 2004, 4:21:05 PM, Yannick Jean wrote:
> Quoting Michael Hartman:

>> Down time and travel time are both excellent opportunities for
>> socializing. The importance of this should not be underestimated.

> Tell that to the guy who can only play for 15-30 mins sessions
> here and there...

That would be me...

> Repeating myself here, but it must said again: If you want casual
> players in your game, downtime and travel time as mean of
> encouraging socializatrion must go.

I played SWG for along time, then left. I came back then vehicles
were introduced, as it made travelling a lot quicker, and I had a
lot of downtime.

The shuttles were the bane of my gameplay though. All well and good
for immersion and socialising whilst waiting (but lets be honest,
who socialised? I muted the chat channels so as not to get spammed
by advertbots and sellers).

The straw though was when I had an hour and a half to play one
evening, logged on, agreed to meet a friend, and spent 98% of the 90
minutes I had either waiting for shuttles or loading the world. I
had an average wait per shuttle of 9 minutes, 30 seconds, especially
when I had to go get a new ticket.

For someone who can only afford 15 to 20 minute play sessions,
waiting 10 minutes for a shuttle rapidly makes the game untenable as
an experience. Even the reduction to 5 minutes is not enough -
downtime is great, for those who have the time to waste. I don't.

Regards,
Tom "cro" Gordon
CEO, AlienPants Ltd
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