[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[Alex Arnon]

On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 02:51:11 -0400, Michael Hartman
<michael at thresholdrpg.com> wrote:
> cruise wrote:
>> Amanda Walker wrote:

>>>  "Whew, that was close.  OK, we head back to town."

[snip cellphone chatter]

> As to the main topic, MMORPGs are hurt if you eliminate travel
> time completely. Huge, painful amounts of travel time are bad. But
> 5 or 10 minutes here or there actually encourage socialization.

> A lot of conversations took place in DAoC while sitting on the
> transport pad or while riding a boat in the Trials of Atlantis.

Even in Planetside, some of the most entertaining times we've had
were while waiting to arrive at a destination - chatting, because
running across Auraxis is generally point-and-start running, or
_someone else_ was driving (and even in the driver's case, there's
not much to do unless you're the sneaky under-the-radar type of
pilot). I've noticed another thing - the type of socialization that
happens in captured bases (when there's "nothing to do") seems to be
of the shorter, impatient type, unlike that which occurs when
travelling.  I think that chatting between bouts of action tends to
be a sort of stress reliever - players' better sides tend to come
out.

> In CoH, there is almost no socialization at all. You cannot really
> follow people in your group since the /follow code doesn't keep up
> over even the tiniest obstacles or corners. Thus, your hands are
> never free to chat even during the 30-60 seconds it takes to get
> from Point A to Point B.

> Down time and travel times are frequently complained about aspects
> in MMORPGs, but I think players are often their own worst enemies
> when developers give in too much on these two things.

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

Right on the money.
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