DGN: Emergent Behaviors spawned from - Re: [MUD-Dev]SOC:Willcompany sanctioned cheating hurt theMMOcommunity?

[Michael Hartman]

cruise at casual-tempest.net wrote:

> Which was pretty much my point - why is the only large-scale (ie.
> requiring several standard groups) content the enourmous
> several-hour long high-end raids? Why don't more games have
> smaller, easier, shorter versions for lower levels? If the answer
> is because the only reason for them is the loot drops, and players
> don't otherwise enjoy the process, then there's obviously a more
> fundamental question of why is your combat system so unenjoyable?
> Or, should you perhaps give out more than just loot and XP - a
> badge system (like AA or CoH) that records the acheivement long
> after any loot gained has been discarded.

> If the only reason raids are high-end is because high-level
> players are the only people with the time and incentive to do
> them, then it's propbably fair to say that something else should
> be found for high-level players to do that's a bit more enjoyable.

My friend, you just said a mouthful. This whole "raid" phenomenon
that has infected MMOs since EQ has gotten completely out of
control. This is purely anecdotal, but of all the people I know who
go on raids (in numerous MMOs), very, very few of them go because
they think it is fun. They go because it is the only way to gain
access to high level items.

The problem with these huge mega raids that last 4-6+ hours is that
they are inherently very anti-social activities. There are so many
people to co-ordinate and time is already so precious, there is no
time to "stop and smell the roses" in any way. You can barely even
talk to any friends that might be with you on the raid because the
nature of such an activity causes it to be gogogogogo.  If every
member of a 40 man group stopped once every hour to chat for just 2
minutes, you'd spend 80 minutes out of every hour
chatting. Ooops. That doesn't work.

I feel that more MMO designers should be mindful of that fact, and
design their huge, 40, 50+ man content to be shorter and more
climactic. Then there should be a lot more 1 group and 2 group end
game content that provides the same acess to end game items. This
way, people who enjoy the 40+ man content still get to enjoy it, but
the overwhelming majority who do not enjoy it still have a means of
obtaining end game items through a style of gameplay they enjoy.

--
Michael Hartman, J.D. (http://www.thresholdrpg.com)
President & CEO, Threshold Virtual Environments, Inc.
University of Georgia School of Law, 1995-1998
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 1990-1994
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