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

[Koster, Raph]

Sean Howard wrote:

> I would argue that it is more important - or at least requires
> more distinct effort - to create smaller communities with more
> valuable input on the player's behalf. For instance, some games
> FORCE you to group, which feels like a poor design decision
> because one can interact with other players without requiring them
> to play. SWG has arbitrary crafting dependencies where making
> something like a droid requires some object which exists for no
> other purpose than to be used to make droids, but some other
> classes makes them (ie Master Artisans create droid batteries, but
> Master Droid Engineers can't).

We may not like it, but all empirical evidence at the moment seems
to show that requiring cooperative team play for success causes
greater retention.

More data points would certainly be helpful, since it's quite
possible that other factors are at play here. I personally have
nothing against team play but also wouldn't want it to be the sole
defining gameplay paradigm.

-Raph
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