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

[Douglas Goodall]

HRose wrote:

> 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.

In my limited experience, teams are only relaxing when they are
composed entirely of casual gamers and are not required to compete
for resources. If you get just one impatient (or just plain dumb)
person in your team, it is no longer relaxing. If you are forced to
compete with other teams either by attacking mobs as soon as they
appear or by out-damaging other teams, it is no longer relaxing (or
even enjoyable most of the time).

> 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.

It is also not common. There is alot that can be done to aid finding
teams. DAoC came up with an excellent system (though there's still
room for improvement). But I'm not sure how any team-finding tool
could somehow only team you up with competent players... I suppose
you could have a reputation or ratings system (i.e. my character has
four gold stars!), but that's wide open for abuse, at least with any
method I can think of right now.

> 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.

In my current situation, I am often required to solo for this
reason. When I left the game industry, I went back to running my own
business and am therefore "on call" all the time. I can't guarantee
that I'll be on-line long enough to participate in teams. I still
like logging on to chat and such, I just feel it's an even more
obvious waste of my time if I'm not able to accomplish anything on
my own while chatting.
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