[MUD-Dev] NEWS: Why Virtual Worlds are Designed By Newbies - No, Really! (By R. Bartle)

[neild-mud at misago.org]

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Original message: http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2004Q4/msg00192.php

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:19:27 -0800
"Richard A. Bartle" <richard at mud.co.uk> wrote:

> Treadmilling does work, it's just that there are other styles of
> gameplay out there that work much better - if only the players
> would give it a chance.

I personally believe that players will give other styles of gameplay
a chance.  I don't see many developers that are willing to, however.
Even games that have no imaginable need for a treadmill, such as
Shadowbane or The Sims Online, include one.  (I strongly suspect
this being a key factor in the lackluster success of TSO, in fact.)

> As a rant piece, it paints a more pessimistic picture than the
> reality. However, my aim in writing it wasn't so much that I
> wanted to be right as that I wanted to alert people in time that
> they can prove me to be wrong.

With an invitation like that, how can I resist the opportunity to
tell you why you're wrong? :>

I see two key points in your article:

  - A virtual world must attract new players or perish.

  - New players coming from other virtual worlds demand features
  that are bad for the long-term health of the world they are
  entering.

I agree with the first point, but disagree with the second.

I think that what new players are most likely to demand is a lack of
misfeatures that they have experienced before, rather than the
presence of features.  For example, a player who hated long travel
times in one game will have no patience at all for them in their
next.  A player who is burned out on the level treadmill in one game
will be unwilling to mount a new treadmill.

Players are likely to characterize this as a desire for missing
features--"I want teleportation" stands in for "I'm sick of spending
hours to get from place to place", and "I want instancing" may
really mean "I don't ever want to stand in line to kill the Evil
Overlord ever again".

The problem, as I see it, is that most MMORPGs these days are
following a broadly similar formula that gives them all very similar
design flaws.  Certain techniques--such as instancing-- have been
developed to patch over those flaws.  This doesn't mean that a new
game must use the same techniques, but it does mean that the
underlying flaws must be addressed in some fashion, for players have
lost all willingness to deal with them.

          - Damien
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