[MUD-Dev] realistic combat vs enjoyable combat

[Michael Sellers]

Rayzam wrote:

> I believe there is an inverted U-shaped curve affecting 'combat',
> not realistically, but viscerally. This is for the player, not for
> real life.

> Y-axis = Enjoyment

>                   -------------------------------------------
>                  /                                           \
>                 /                                             \
>                |                                               |

> TIME TAKEN:  SHORT                 MEDIUM                     LONG

Interesting you should bring that up.  There's a well-known curve
called the Yerkes-Dodson curve (brief ref here:

  http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/arousal.html

from 1908 that plots performance against stress or psychological
arousal.  If arousal is too low (something is too short or boring)
performance is low.  Similarly if arousal is too high (something
incites panic or paralysis), performance is low.  In the middle is
an optimal region of high performance (Silverman among others has
shown how experts extend this area to the right by chunking and
mastering high arousal situations, which has consequences for 'elder
game' parts of design).

In gameplay terms, performance can be roughly equated with
enjoyment, immersion, etc.  So if combat, say, is short or boring --
a matter of just clicking the mouse over and over again -- it
quickly becomes a low-enjoyment situations.  OTOH if there are too
many combat options, too many monsters, etc., then enjoyment also
falls off.  In the middle is an area where the combat is neither too
long nor too short, where the player has several meaningful options
but not too many at any given time, and enjoyment is maximized.

Part of the challenge though is that players have different
preferences and change over time: sometimes you just want to go on
auto-pilot, other times you might want to direct every nuance of the
combat.  I think the latter part of this is why magic-users are so
much more preferred by 'expert' players -- and why the fighter/tank
role pales eventually; the spell-caster has an additive role where
more and more options (spells) are opened to them, and the player
can pursue different strategies in combat beyond just click-to-hit.

"Enjoyable combat" isn't going to be the same for everyone.  But
aiming for sufficient but not too much arousal (via additive UI
options, etc.) will help increase the game's enjoyment.

Mike Sellers
Online Alchemy
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