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

[Sean Howard]

"Damion Schubert" <dschubert at gmail.com> wrote:

> The problem with the Philosopher King approach is that it's very
> easy to claim you know better than the unenlightened masses.

This is very true, which is why Plato's Republic was concerned more
with the philosophy of education than neccessarily ruling a
nation. It's also why I think the debate that leads up to the
conclusions is more important than the conclusions themselves.

> It's very easy for a philosopher king to stand on the mount and
> proclaim the unenlightened masses SHOULDN'T like WoW, or they
> SHOULD like to roleplay, or they SHOULDN'T prefer a level-based
> system to a skill-based system.

Any declarations as simplistic and binary as this are useless. I'm
not advocating a philosopher dictator.  I am saying that the people
who don't want to think for themselves can neither be expected to or
forced to.  People seem to be content with just letting things hang
out in the air.  It's all subjective, so answers aren't worth
looking for. I say the answers do exist, they are worth looking for,
and we need people who are willing to look for them where others
would rather not or simply don't care either way.

> Our opinions are all good and well, but I have to constantly
> remind even my designers that our opinions are not the same as
> those of our playerbase.

Again, the mistake is made that appealing to a market is the same as
appealing to knowledge. The market follows our leads and it is up to
us to make better games and then sell them on it, rather than making
what sells and crossing our fingers that games just get better on
their own.

- Sean
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