[MUD-Dev] Re: MMO Communities

[Paul Schwanz]

Michael Hartman wrote:
> Byron Ellacott wrote:
>>   Raph Koster wrote:

>>>    We may not like it, but all empirical evidence at the moment
>>>    seems to show that requiring cooperative team play for
>>>    success causes greater retention.

>> Raph, or anyone else, could you clarify which empirical evidence
>> has shown this, or offer an alternative explanation for why this
>> is so?

> For Threshold, I have definitely found that every effort I make to
> build community has improved retention. When people feel like
> quitting the game is similar to giving up one's friends, it is a
> lot harder to quit.

But is anyone even questioning this?  I think pretty much everyone
agrees that stronger community bonds leads to greater retention.
Yet many question whether forced grouping or forced downtime is
effective in creating stronger community bonds.

I, personally, have established very few social or community bonds
through typical MMORPG gameplay.  In fact, I can't think of a single
instance.  Instead, most MMORPG friendships that I've had have come
out of online game design discussions.  In other words, a connection
was established based on shared points of view before hand, and that
relationship was then taken inside the game.  On a few occasions, I
then made some second-hand acquaintances through the initial
relationship, but still felt basically like an outsider.  It was
always fun playing the game with the initial friend, often a bit
awkward playing with the secondd-hand acquaintances, and never much
fun playing solo.

As for meeting other players through the forced-grouping aspect of
gameplay, my experiences have been decidedly negative.  The few
times that I attempted to do this were so unpleasant that I'd rather
play solo.  While the best thing about MOGs is the interaction with
other players, it seems to me that the worst thing about MOGs is
also the interaction with other players.  I think that the
forced-grouping model tends to gloss over this reality, but I would
certainly like to see the emperial evidence that shows otherwise.

--Paul "Phinehas" Schwanz
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