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

[Damion Schubert]

On 4/6/07, Raph Koster <raph at areae.net> wrote:
>
>
> As an example: A lot of hay was made about the notion that entertainers
> should have been giving positive effects rather than healing negative
> effects. But stuff like that ignores that *to players there is no
> difference.* To them, there is "be at max power" and "not be at max
> power." Making it a step you did before combat versus after was really
> irrelevant. The fundamental principle is the same: another player is
> needed to get you to fighting trim. So focusing on whether cantinas and
> battle fatigue were a punishment or not misses the psychological point.
> Being "forced to buff" feels exactly the same.


Once upon a time, back in beta before launch, WoW had a 'fatigue' system,
where if you played too long without logging out or spending time in an inn,
you'd fight 'fatigued', and gain experience at about half the rate.  The
players
revolted.  The devs responded by ripping it out, and replacing it with a
'rest'
system - if you spent time logged out in an inn, you earned experience at
double the rate for a while, until you losted the 'rested' state.  The
players
rejoiced that their complaints had been heard.

Of course, anyone who looks at that realizes pretty much instantaneously
that the two systems are the same - they just made the 'fatigued' state
the 'normal' state, but this made all the difference in the world in the
player's mind.  So I guess I disagree with your statement pretty strongly.
=)

--d