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

[Sean Howard]

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

> Does this vary amongst MMORPGs/MUDs?

It does in my experience, but I promise you that it has nothing to
do with the UI. When players want to interact, they'll find a way,
even if they have to resort to AIM in a different window (though
that would be a bad design decision).

> 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?

The thing that makes the difference are the type of people who play
it.  For instance, the larger MMORPGs out there based on instantly
recognizable licenses (WoW, CoH, SWG) tend to attract a younger and
more immature audience than stuff like Ryzom, Horizons, or EVE
Online. I've found that Ryzom feels more like a close family while
Everquest feels like a world shared by strangers. Also, RP servers
tend to be slightly more serious servers as well, probably because
it scares off all the sensation seekers by declaring itself a mental
exercise up front (as opposed to creative number crunching).

Second up, beyond the population itself, is what the game
allows. For instance, WoW only really allows small groups and
interaction through the auction house. There isn't any reason to
communicate except to say LFG.  Something like SWG requires
communication to earn apprentice points or encourages it through the
currently busted entertainer class. I don't particularly like games
the force grouping to do even the most menials tasks (like FFXI),
but it does make a difference. In Habitat, you had the ability to
write notes on paper, which lead to a group starting a newspaper in
game.

I'd say that UI differences make the least amount of
differences. Most MMORPGs have a specific set of functions (user
created channels, shouts, tells, group chat, mail, who,
friend/ignore list, etc) which are standard.  I don't think I've
seen a MMORPG without these features, or if I had, I didn't think to
miss them. I don't think I've seen any MMORPGs with more than that
either. I think one has an in game forum for guilds to use.

One thing which I don't like is that SWG decided to encourage
talking by making the keyboard ALWAYS chat. If you want to see your
inventory, you hit CTRL-I, which is really frustrating. I think it
was a valiant attempt, but it didn't work out - I've noticed no
future MMORPGs have followed in a similar fasion.

- Sean Howard
www.squidi.net
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev