[MUD-Dev] Richard A. Bartle talks MUD Design

[Dana V. Baldwin]

Richard A. Bartle wrote:

> For example, if you had instancing but deliberately put less
> interesting content in the instances than you did in the
> uninstanced areas, players might eventually turn away from
> instancing.

I'm probably off topic here but I just can't buy into the instancing
bashing.

When I'm in town, or in the field, or in almost any place in my
world, I expect to see and interact with other people. When I want
to go out and adventure I want some fellows to accompany me and I'd
prefer to be able to pick between the myriad that the world has to
offer (or not pick as the case might be). To me this is why MMPs are
massive, or in many casses at least big. Obviously, a world filled
with people to play with and against is appealing in a way that a
world filled with NPCs cannot be, no argument there. (Disclosure: I
did play Ultima 7 for 2 years straight, same game so I can dig NPCs)

When I go to the pit of Mount Doom with said fellows, however, I'd
prefer not to see leetBob standing there chatting with his group,
camping the spawn or forming a line for the next drop. There is
nothing remotely epic or immersive about that, to me. There are
places, even in a vast populated realm, where my fellows and I
should feel that we are alone on our quest to save ... Well whatever
it is we are questing for.

Instancing is not the only way to convey this type of content but it
is effective IMHO, none the less.

Probably a dead horse but previous conversations on the topic have
not impressed upon me why there isn't a place for instancing among
other types of content. Playing MMPs has, on the other hand, shown
me that there are some places where it can work well. Is it merely a
bias toward one style of gameplay or a prejudice against some
implementations that have overused instancing that makes instancing
unattractive to some designers?
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