[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system]

[Hideto Koudanshi]

WARNING. May be TL;DR. (Means "Too Long; Didn't Read" for those who may
not know.)

My question in this whole debate, especially involving Caliban, is do
you see players as commodities? Are players units of measurement? "98%
of our commodities are moving in a forward direction, increasing
revenues and fluidity in the market towards stated goals. 2%, however,
have stagnated and are sucking up resources and holding back primary
production towards corporate goals." Corporate-speak for, "Those two
guys over there haven't killed anything, fought any NPCs, found any
treasure, crafted any craftables, or otherwise done anything thematic as
we intended it! Get them out before they pose a real threat to the
game!"

As someone who can deny your game my dollars, I do not like being openly
treated as a commodity. I have no problem with you seeing me as such. 
That's what being corporate is all about. However, this opinion should
be invisible. I should FEEL like a valued individual, not a "revenue
source", even if I AM just a revenue source to you.

Many of the games I've played over my 17 years of online gaming
experience, from LP MUDs and their ilk, social MU*s, on up to some of
the latest MMOs, were most enjoyable to me when the rules only stated
that I was not to run around trying to make the PLAYERS unhappy, though
I could poke a stick in CHARACTERS' eyes as often as I wanted, if it
served a game purpose. So long as my impact on the other characters was
part of the stated purpose of the game and I was not trying to stretch
the bounds or reasonability of that stated purpose, the game really
should not be telling me what to do other than to give me an idea what
the theme is intended to be and how I am asked to exist within that
theme.

Taking the extreme attitude that, "The game specifically states I may
fight with other characters and kill them anywhere except inside town
boundaries. I will train up to become VERY hard to kill, find out who
the other hard-to-kill players are who might try to STOP me, find out
when they log in, and hang just outside of the newbie area when those
goodytwoshoes are NOT logged on and KILL ANYONE WITH LESSER STATS THAN
ME." may well be within the boundaries of your game, but how does it
encourage gameplay with others?
 
Most importantly, if I don't want to be constantly murdered, so I go off
to play by myself as most of the playerbase has got me believing they
just want to murder me indescriminately even though I don't have enough
"PH4T L3WT" to be a profitable harvest, why should I be punished for
this?

I don't mind people getting greater incentives if they team up to do
things. I know in UO, you gained healing skill points a LOT faster if
you healed OTHERS instead of only YOURSELF. Frankly though, I was
willing to pay the penalty price to ensure that I wasn't being killed
randomly all the time.

Want to know what was the funnest time I think I've ever had on an MMO?
Going onto a Japanese shard in UO, getting to know a few Japanese
players there, and watching them all dance in unison in the middle of
Britain near the bank, half of them morphed into chickens, the other
half as people. We spent the day generally being silly, talking,
laughing, and DIDN'T fight or KILL a THING. If we're enjoying ourselves,
making friends, and still paying you for the privilege to do it while
dressed medievallly (or as chickens), why do you care that we're not
killing, farming, making potions, or otherwise using game mechanics in a
thematic way? Had players asked us to take our tomfoolery somewhere
else, we would have. However, considering the majority of the players
who were THERE were ALREADY dancing and being chickens and whatnot WHEN
I GOT THERE, I was not helping to further disrupt the game. If I keep my
silliness or solo playing to myself and am not being complained about by
the majority of players, why is it any of your business what I'm doing
if I'm not breaking the ToS?