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

[Matt Mihaly]

Dana V. Baldwin wrote:
> 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.

That's true. See my assertion earlier that losing is made tolerable
when you feel like you've gotten something from it or it actually
costs you nothing.

> 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.

Watching sports is exactly that: Passive recreation, though perhaps
all the screaming at the tv sports fans do makes it somewhat less
passive.

Passive recreation in the form of watching tv is most American's #1
form of entertainment. No loss, no challenge.

--matt
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