MMO Communities (was RE: [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?)

[John MacQueen]

There are those of us indies challenging this "250" rule and other
so called "rules" with game designs outside the FRPG type of MMOG.

For example WWIIOL separates all players into two sides, axis and
allies. It is also interesting as it is a 100% PvP MMO where anyone
in the "world" is prone to instantaneous death at any time. (another
"rule" broken)

There is no doubt that the separate communities for each side have
grown well beyond 250 players by an order of magnitude.

The allied side has also separated into very distinct French and
British communities as well, who compete with each other and have
their own conflicts with each other at times, which has been
interesting to observe over the last few years as those large
communities have evolved.

There are also sub communities, as in any other MMO, but nationalism
and a larger sense of community is a very strong force in the game.

The communities even maintain the irrational nature of nationalism
in game, complete with all the political and social nastiness that
usually entails.

It seems a real community of thousands only requires strong goals in
common between those thousands, specific goals that require a
community of thousands to achieve.

In WWIIOL this goal is represented by the attack and capture of
hundreds of cities, a goal that requires thousands of players weeks
to achieve with success being directly proportional to the
communities ability to function as a community at the level of
thousands in each community.

Most games have no overriding goals that require half their player
base working directly on it to achieve. SWG has that potential with
the empire vs rebels setup, but it seems it is largely unrealized at
present.

There will still of course be sub communities determined by the
limits of a human being, that you can only know so many people
personally. This tops out below that 250 number IMHO and a sub
group/guild/squad or "tribal group" as I would call it that reaches
250 or more is large and an exception.

Going outside what is successful in previous games though is risky,
very risky if you plan on trying to fund it to the levels some of
the current top games have cost to produce.

John MacQueen
COO, Playnet Inc.
817-358-7580 ext 113
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