[MUD-Dev] DGN: Reasons for play [was: Emergent Behaviors spawnedfrom...]

[cruise]

Michael Sellers spake thusly...

> Actually most players of The Sims never get sucked in to the
> achievement track for itself -- getting to the highest job level
> was never the point of the game (by design or for most players).
> Getting "stuff", making friends, falling in love, having kids (or
> for some, killing Sims in strange ways) were the main draws; the
> job (achievement track) was if anything a necessary evil to get to
> these goals.  Most players never topped out on the job track,
> unlike the relentless drive to level 60 or whatever in the
> standard MMO.

> Moreover, getting "more loot" in The Sims is sort of a red
> herring: what you discover is that the more stuff you own, or the
> more friends you have, the more time and money you have to spend
> keeping it all working (or reacting to failure).

> Thus the game was fundamentally not about achievement, but about
> relationships (between your character and friends/family, and
> between your character and his or her possessions).  Not
> surprising then that it was loved by women disproportionately, and
> seen by many men as inscrutable (my favorite are the MMOG devs who
> couldn't understand the game and saw its success as a fluke).  It
> bears little resemblance to any MMOG today -- including The Sims
> Online.

So, we have a game that has a form of levelling and ability
increases - it has loot, which offers boosts to abilities. There are
different jobs for the player to pursue, which require different
levels in the different abilities.

So far, so CRPG, right?

Yet most players don't pursue the levelling very strongly, don't
fuss over having the best loot, and spend most of the time just
/playing the game/.  Advancing in the game doesn't give you more
power, but simply provides more to do, and more challenges.

In other words, it's a game that actually provides a game other than
the levelling. That doesn't mean it's not there, just that it's
actually superseeded by other goals and reasons to play.

--
[ cruise / casual-tempest.net / transference.org ]
  "quantam sufficit"
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev