[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: Study of MMORPG/MUD friendliness

[Johan A]

Mike Rozak <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote:

> Has anyone ever done a study on MMORPG/MUD player friendliness,
> and how UI designs influence friendliness?

> For example:

>   If I show up to an area to kill monsters or finish a quest, and
>   other players are there, I say "Hello" or "Do you need
>   help?". Only about 50% of the time do I get a response
>   back. Sometimes I try to see if the other player (usually alone)
>   wants to group to complete the quest and don't even get a
>   response.

Both and none and I would also say it depends on what game you are
playing. If the person you are trying to communicate with is farming
in say AO, the odds are he/she is also watching TV/DVD at the same
time and pay little notice to the world chat. Then there are people
who probably just can't be bothered talking to you.

>   I've also been randomly buffing up lower-level PCs that wander
>   by. (Random acts of kindness.) About half of them say thanks. Is
>   that because they don't notice the buff, or because they're not
>   being friendly/polite?

I usually cast buffs on lower level players if I run by them to help
them out a bit. If they are really low level they may not notice it
since they are busy learning the game or are busy fighting a mob and
haven't quite got the grips with the UI or game mechanics to know
everything that is going on around them. Then again, some people
probably just don't care.

>   I've been contemplating handing equipment/treasure to random
>   people, but MMORPGs make it awfully cumbersome to do so, and
>   players are usually running by too quickly.

Aha! You are one of those ninja traders ;) In all fairness, most of
the time trading is quite straight forward in MMO's though. I like
to hand things over to confused new players. I know one of my best
memories from EQ was when a group of high level players sat with me
for several hours and showing me around the area, giving me some
nice lowbie gear and suggesting tactics, looking out for me when
fighting etc.

> Does this vary amongst MMORPGs/MUDs?

> What UI design decisions influence this? For example: With
> whispers, party-chat, and Teamspeak voice-chat, no one seems to
> use local chat. Are these features solely to blame, or are other
> design decisons responsible?

I think it is really important to have a good chat client ingame
that uses good colours AND offering the user to customise it
100%. Tabbed chat window with the option to create new movable
windows should be standard today. Being able to filter combat spam
from raid chat and guild/vicinity chat from tells/whispers can make
life a lot easier.

Bottom line is, if someone is not responding to you or are just
ignoring you they are not worth having your extra gear or help :)

- Johan
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