[MUD-Dev2] Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants)

[John Buehler]

Damion Schubert writes:

> On 3/22/07, John Buehler <johnbue at msn.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > No argument from me on any of that.  What is the role of
> EMOTING in World
> > of
> > Warcraft?  None of this is about multiplayer games being
> social.  They are
> > highly social.  We started off with "Why is the /bow command in certain
> > games so weak?"  I think the game was World of Warcraft, but I can't
> > remember.  Perhaps it was only implied.  In any case, I don't
> want to lose
> > sight of the original premise.
>
>
> In that case, I'd suggest that's because a huge amount of the
> communication in the game is from a distance - either in guild chat or
> zone chat - and emotes don't do that well.  In WoW, this is made more
> significant by the fact that the game is soloable, and most people spend
> significant time doing so (which trains them to chat long distance).

That sort of thing is the source of my "right game" comments.  There are
game structures that are conducive to players emoting and there are game
structures that are not conducive to it.

> We have seen at least one game where emotes meaningfully mattered -
> Star Wars Galaxies, if you recall, required you view dancers emoting their
> dances to remove their mind wounds.  In the short term, the feature was a
> success, but in a long term, most cantinas became filled with automated
> bots dancing for free tips.  Nothing feels lonelier than talking
> to someone who you think is a real person, and not getting an answer.

I never played it, but this case sounds like the auto-smile example that
I presented to Richard Bartle; players who are motivated primarily by
the destination will macro the journey.

I don't reject the idea of emoting as a game feature.  I DO believe that
the game needs to be structured "just so".  For example, emoting a dance
should be like fighting a monster.  It should be involved, interactive
and not something that can be done through a macro.  Just as combat is
(supposed to be).

> I'm personally not a big fan of making such emotes a required gameplay
> mechanic in any way.  They should remain social tools.

Back we go to the "right game".  A game with required emoting isn't
right for you.  Nor is it right for the majority of people who play the
current crop of combat-centric achiever games.

> If you want to see more emotes, I personally would try to identify ways to
> create cultural change inside the game that made them more widespread.

That is structuring the game so that it is "right" for the outcome that
you want.  Note that if you restructure a game like Star Wars Galaxies,
it may well fall apart.  If the majority of the existing player base is
uninterested in the restructuring, they'll go elsewhere (or complain
mightily).  If the sort of people who are interested in the new
structure never enter the game, the player base just fades away.

JB