[MUD-Dev] DGN: Reasons for play [was: Emergent Behaviorsspawned from...]

[Mike Rozak]

Sean Howard wrote:

> I disagree, and without meaning any disrespect to Mr. Bartle, I
> think everyone's reliance on these things is preventing people
> from creating a more accurate and, more importantly, usable model
> for player temperment.  Don't get me wrong, what it does, it does
> fine - but it doesn't do much.  It merely describes behavior, not
> the motivations or causes of it. Any system where a person can
> exhibit characteristics of all temperments is pretty much
> worthless.

If you have a hammer, all the world's problems look like
nails... not that hammers are bad. I would like to see more models
that consider this issue from as many "angles" as possible.

One interesting way of categorizing players is by what features they
request on MUD/MMORPG forums (or would request if they weren't
shunned, like griefers.). I've come up with a list of at 17
categories so far (solo players, guild-member, crafter, change the
world, role player, griefer, E-bayer, etc.) These categories form an
ecology with positive and negative feedback upon the populations of
other categories, just like Bartle's models. You could even fit most
the 17 categories within Richard Bartle's categories.

The model (right or wrong) implies that standard MMORPG/MUD work
because a complex ecology is formed. My personal goal has been to
create an adventure-game VW, but its ecology turns out to be vastly
simpler than a standard MMORPG/MUD, so this model implies that such
a game won't do well.

Of course, this is only one other way of looking at what's
happening.

Mike Rozak
http://www.mxac.com.au
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