[SPAM] RE: [MUD-Dev] Removing the almighty experience point...

[Dana V. Baldwin]

Matt Mihaly wrote:
> Travis Casey wrote:

>> In the same way, the majority of MMORPG players don't want a real
>> challenge; they want the illusion of challenge.  They want the
>> feeling that they could lose... but they don't want to really
>> lose.  Sometimes they don't even want the feeling that they can
>> lose -- they just want to *win*, to get a feeling that they've
>> accomplished something.

All (okay most, bad absolute) of the most popular games in the
history of the world have a winner and a loser. From checkers and
chess to counterstrike and warcraft. I think a better question is
what are the consequences of losing. Building a game that has losers
isn't bad, building a game where losing is intolerable is bad.

If you could ride in a rollercoaster and get the thrill of a
completely disasterous wreck with no more consequence than an
adrenaline rush, people would line up for miles. Challenge, like
loss, may be desirable to be missed by some in an
entertainment/recreation medium but that's not really true is
it. People watch sports for the trill of victory and the agony of
defeat. People watch soap operas for exactly the same reason.

A game without challenge is a passive recreation, and a pretty poor
one at that.

Dana V. Baldwin
a.k.a. "Gophur"
Producer
World War II Online
www.wwiionline.com
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