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

[Michael Sellers]

Sean Howard wrote:
> "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at soe.sony.com> wrote:

>> 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.

> I couldn't disagree more. It's all in how you look at the graphs.
> Requiring cooperation may keep certain types of people past their
> due date, but it will alienate others well before they have a
> chance to get tired of the game. You are creating that divide so
> early on that you may not be able to measure it.

Raph can certainly speak for himself, but I suspect that his
empirically founded argument will point out that you're talking
relative numbers: for every one person you alienate with a
requirement for cooperative team play, you retain some multiple
number of people who really like it and are more likely to stick
around because of it.

I would also go further and point out that this is a signpost
pointing us out of the ravine-like niche MMPs are in and toward a
much larger market full of people who will be happy to play once we
come up with a game that they enjoy.  Yeah, TSO didn't really work
and neither have There or Second Life.  But for all their faults
they're important pointers.  There's a huge and largely ignored
market out there that isn't turned on by the thought of hours and
hours of solo monster killing.

> One day, someone is going to create an introvert's MMORPG, and
> everyone's going to say "Why didn't I think of that?"

They have.  It's called "Diablo."

Mike Sellers
Online Alchemy
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