[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs?

[Michael Hartman]

John Buehler wrote:

> That, as opposed to looking at weather and trying to interject its
> influences.  Historically, those influences are limiting, and
> that's usually how games implement the influences of weather.
> They limit gameplay.  Dark screens during rainstorms and nighttime
> is the classic example of what not to do.

[snippage]

> In short, weather is a rationalization for introducing variety in
> the experience of your game.

That is a really excellent way of summing up how weather (and
similar things) should be used: to provide variety, not to provide
impediments.

I completely agree that in far too many games weather, seasons, and
day/night cycles are nothing more than ways to implement severe
annoyances. I have played too many games where you have to jack up
the gamma at night just to see what is going on. This is obviously
not an isolated experience since many games with weather often get
quick user made mods to remove the visual (obscuring) effects.

Adding variety is really what we should be looking at when adding
such features to the game. How can a certain type of weather break
up the monotony of doing the same thing for the 100th time? That is
really the important question.

Great post!

--
Michael Hartman
President and CEO, Threshold Virtual Environments, Inc.
http://www.thresholdrpg.com
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