[MUD-Dev] Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol7, Issue9)

[eversilver at yahoo.com]

(New to the list, hi everyone, hope you don't mind my intrusion into
the topic)

Personally, I enjoy both building and monster bashing and, since I'm
not one to go doing other player's dirty work online (ie, player
quests to go kill monster X), I'd probably wind up with such a (I'd
say literal, but that would be too ironic for my tastes) farm out in
the wilderness where I'd go about defending it myself. Part of that,
however is that I like creating stuff and then seeing what can be
thrown at it. I don't want super defenses that nothing can ever get
by. From time to time it is best if something does require some
quick work to prevent from turning into something that destroys my
farm.

However, that being said, I know a number of people that really do
just enjoy the process of farming online. I will probably never
quite understand it. They, however, are the type that turn off
disasters in Sim-City and enjoy god games where they can choose not
to have any enemies- just forget giving them zap-powers to
annihilate them all. That isn't their thing.

I think that, unfortunately, most people approach this subject with
the preconceived notion that people want excitement in their gaming
experience. "They must do something that makes a difference in the
world!" That just doesn't seem to apply to the group I spoke
of. Unfortunately, since it doesn't apply, I see no way of 'forcing'
player interactions on the player that they would entertain them
without risking damage to the quality of game enjoyed from farming.

How does one integrate people that truly want no external threat
into a MMO game? Or, is it even possible?
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