[MUD-Dev] UI Design in MMOs

[Paolo Piselli]

--- Mike Rozak <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote:

> 6) WoW played a nicely animated intro movie which a) didn't
> advance the story, and b) put the real WoW graphics to
> shame. While I enjoy intro movies, I'd rather have them explain
> some backstory and use the graphics that appear in the game. (If
> you want to make one line shorter, draw a longer line next to it.)
> I also thought about the money wasted on the intro movie that
> could have been put to better use in game play.

I highly disagree.  The intro movie included with WoW establishes:

  - The high-level geography of the continents

  - What the major races that inhabit the world are

  - What their natural environments are like

  - That these races are in conflict

  -  Some information about what side each race is on

  - Examples of the various classes available for play

The intro movie communicates these in a very exciting and appealing
format, and no matter how large it is in size, it is far easier to
fit a pre-rendered movie in memory than it is to cache all the
in-game graphics for the diverse array of landscapes, characters and
spell effects portrayed.  It leaves the player with an impression of
the world and perhaps a sense of which race/class they find themself
most identifying with.

-Paolo
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