[MUD-Dev] Casual Crowd vs.Time Rich Crowd [was: Time Debt]

[William Leader]

Ok, I'm really new here and it may be a little early for me to speak
up, but what the heck, the moderators will decide that for me. A
quick introduction: I am an aspiring MMO developer (which you may
get a ton of on here). For more information about me see my sig.

I find this time debt thread very interesting. I personally have
been a player that stopped playing MMO games entirely because I got
tired of competing with power players. It didn't help that by
brother plays they same game. We started our characters at
relatively the same time and we discussed our progress with each
other a lot. I had roughly a third of the time to play that he
did. It was through him that I really came to understand just how
far behind I was falling. Within a few months it was no longer
bearable for us to even play together since our time together
amounted to him power-leveling me with no return on his time other
than our socialization (which we do plenty of outside of the game.)

Anyway the conversation as I have watched it this far is seems to
center around the question: "How do we level the playing field
between casual and non-casual players?" This is based on the
assumption that this disparity should be leveled. I like the chess
example that Vladimir Cole provided. You wouldn't match a player who
only has 30 seconds against a player who has unlimited time. Instead
you would match 30 second players with other 30 second players. The
players who like to have an unlimited amount of time might engage
each other in a play by mail game. You could also compare to sport
leagues. Different leagues for different skill levels. You wouldn't
put Professionals on the same field as little leaguers and forcing
the casual players to play with time rich players makes about as
much sense. I feel that rather than invent game mechanics (which
will probably just end up exploited and/or unbalanced if not
perfectly designed) we should think about facilitating connecting
players with their peers.

On way this might be set up is to use a scaled pricing plan. (I know
for some people that is a bad word.) But think of it this way,
instead of charging frequent players more, offer a discount to
casual players. For the example I am just going to pull numbers out
of the air. I want you to note, that I show prices here because the
what this all breaks down to is how can we get more money from more
players. If its a free mud the concept still applies.

  Shard 1 Plan <5hrs / wk. $2.50 a mo.
  Shard 2 Plan <10hrs / wk. $5.00 a mo.
  Shard 3 Plan <15hrs / wk. $7.50 a mo.
  Shard 4 Plan <20hrs / wk. $10.00 a mo.
  Unlimited Shard >20 hrs / wk.$12.50 a mo.

So the idea here is that casual players can pick a shard that is
limited to a set number of hours that matches the amount of time
they play. So if I play less than 5 hours a week, I can play with
other players who play about the same amount of time. because they
are limited to a similar amount of time. Many shard based systems
have the ability to transfer players between shards. In this setup,
that road would have to be one way. I could always move characters
up, if my playing habits change. I cannot speak for other
disenfranchised casual players, but had the MMO I played had this
option I would still be paying.

Something to consider in business terms. The load that a casual user
puts a on a sever is far less than the load placed by other users,
so you may see lower operation costs from 4 casual players than you
might see from one frequent player. A shard with many casual players
may be more profitable than an Unlimited shard. (on the other hand I
have no idea how much more likely a casual player is to call tech
support. I would guess they call less but that is just a guess.)

Aside from just a price break for casual games there could be
in-game functions that could facilitate casual gaming. It could be
something as simple as faster travel, but there may be other
benefits. I know from personal experience that it is not as hard to
find a group as it is to get to a group. If I only have an hour to
play, and it takes me 30 minutes to travel to where the group is,
then chances are the group may no be there when I get there, or no
longer have room for me. So I won't bother. If I know I only have
limited amount of time to play, and I am not in a group soon, I will
usually log off or pursue solo activities. Of course if I am mostly
engaged in solo activities, then why pay for an online game that is
effectively a single player game?

-William Leader
http://www.k2wrpg.org/
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