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

[HRose]

Raph Koster 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.

> More data points would certainly be helpful, since it's quite
> possible that other factors are at play here.

I think it's a side effect. The team play encourages the
socialization and the socialization produces ties between the
players. When a game encourages the cooperation it also makes every
activity more fun and varied. Perhaps just because you chat while
doing something boring. It could be actually relaxing.

Group of players can then recursively motivate each member. You have
goals and you have a role inside a group. The team play itself is
simply an incentive, a stimulus, producing a series of positive side
effects. Because those groups become the soul of a game, even more
than what you are able to offer with the work of a dev team.

This isn't going to the opposite direction of who likes the solo
play. Forcing groups is both what players want and hate. Why? I
think it's not because we have different players liking different
games but because being forced to group brings to consistent
limitations. Often you are forced to wait. You could wait just for a
minute or more than an hour. You could also find an horrible group
and waste even more time. And so on.

Group dynamics are always more fun than playing solo but often you
are more focused on what you are trying to achieve. Finding,
building and mantaining a good group is often not easy and not
fast. If all this blocks your activity you have the reason why many
players hate to not have the possibility to play alone.

And to conclude, a team work (intended as contemporary play and not
just as interdependence) requires also "more" from the player. It
requires a constant attention and it means that you have to focus on
what you are doing. Playing alone gives, instead, a lot more
freedom. You can stop when you want, you can surf the web for a few
minutes, watch TV and so on.

Now I don't think that one of those models is better than the
other. Each player should have the possibility to choose considering
a precise situation. Playing alone must be always an option. Group
play must be always strongly encouraged. Remembering that bringing
players together will be healthy for the game.

-HRose / Abalieno
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