[MUD-Dev] Congratulations Horizons...

[Chanur Silvarian]

From: Vincent Archer <archer at frmug.org>
> According to Chanur Silvarian:
>> From: "Lee Sheldon" <lsheldo2 at tampabay.rr.com>

>> This sounds like it might actually break out of the FED-EX.  I'd
>> have to know a bit more about it because I honestly don't think an
>> MMORPG can do anything other than FED-EX.  I'm betting this is get
>> the package (not sure what the package is here, might be a
>> completed mine) to a certain location/person and that it just has
>> added the necessity of co-operation to complete it.

> Actually, it's not a quest in the sense we usually have it in most
> MMOG.  No "one" is completing a quest here.  For most games, a quest
> is something deeply personal.  You (the avatar) have a quest.  You
> are helping in a friend's quest.  What is your quest in here?  You
> don't have one.  Nobody who is involved has one.  However, you are
> involved in a story.

> Quest (from Webster, relevant definitions):

>   - An act or instance of seeking

>   - A chivalrous enterprise in medieval romance usually involving an
>   adventurous journey

> Nowhere in that definition is the requirement that a quest is tied
> to an individual.  Even the journey part is optional.  All it
> requires is a goal.

I clipped the rest of your post because I think this is far enough
for people to understand my response.

<EdNote: I trimmed more>

I cannot express how much I agree with what you are saying.  To me a
quest requires two things; a) it be a goal and b) it have personal
meaning.  So, in short a quest can be defined as a personal goal.
This does not in any way preclude the "quests" that are set up by
game designers, but it goes far beyond them.  Anything that a player
takes on as a personal goal is, by definition a quest.

This definition of a quest is actually a fundamental of my thinking
of how quests (goals) should be implemented into these games.  The
developer should look beyond their own static quests and look at
what goals a player can create for himself or even for others.

As I've said before, a quest needs to be unique and personal to the
PC on the quest.  It might be personal because of WHY they are doing
it, such as doing it to help out a friend or guildmate.  It might be
personal because nobody has done it before.  The reasons all belong
to the PC and are not something a dev can dictate.  The dev can,
however, give some suggested reasons but in the end the player will
take up the quest or not for their own reasons.

I believe that the most powerful reasons are these (in no particular
order):

  a) a unique experience that nobody else has had

  b) a unique reward that nobody else can get

  c) helping a friend (a real friend, not an NPC)

I'm trying to build the a lot of my quests around those three
reasons.  Some of those "quests" that I build won't be a quest in
their journal but will be things like the farmer friend asking them
to clear off a wolf pack.

- Chanur Silvarian -
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