[MUD-Dev] Removing the almighty experience point...

[brian at thyer.net]

Ben Hawes <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote ..

> Some people aren't as good at some things than others. That's
> life. I can't play racing games for toffee, but I can beat most of
> my circle of friends in any strategy game you mention. Of course
> some people won't be able to manage certain achievements - that's
> why they're an achievement: "Something accomplished successfully,
> especially by means of exertion, skill, practice, or
> perseverance."

> The achievements are designed to measure player abilities. If a
> player isn't good at playing your game, then, yes, maybe he won't
> play it. But how is that different from any other game out there?

> The trick is not to "equalise" the game world so everything can be
> accomplished by players of any skill (which seems to be the tactic
> taken by many), but to provide /different/ ways of advancing. I
> recall an article discussing GTA3. The writer was surprised that
> his girlfriend enjoyed the game so much - but on questioning, he
> found she didn't even realise there were violent possibilities -
> she had just been playing it as a fun driving/exploration game.

> The toruble with XP, as has been said, is if you earn it for
> driving and shooting (say), then even people who want to drive
> will go around shooting if that offers better XP. It is variety,
> not simplicity, that we need.

I guess the difference, in my opinion, is the business model.  An
decently larged sized MMO doesn't just charge users per month
because it can, it charges users per month becasue it needs the
revenue to maintain it.  Espically one where you're building so many
different possibilities in gameplay.  Can you expect to find *that*
many people good at the game who will continue to pay per month?
You can't have it too easy because people will be bored...but too
hard and no one will play.  Can there be a happy medium?  Myst
Online (wasn't that being worked on..whatever happened to that)?
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