[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Rewards

[Sean Howard]

"John Buehler" <johnbue at msn.com> wrote:
> When an intrinsic reward is involved, people do activities because they
> like it.

I disagree. A reward is a reward, regardless of whether it is internal,
external, this, or that. If you set a reward for yourself, you will suffer
the exact same side effects that you would if somebody else was the
offerer. That's why it is important to distinguish between reward and
rewarding.

For example, if you tell yourself that you won't watch any tv until after
your homework is done, you'll still rush through the homework and do a
sloppy job because your motivation is still to watch tv, not do your
homework.

On the other hand, if you build a LEGO skyscraper, just because you enjoy
it, you need never finish it to find the experience enjoyable. In fact,
you could decide halfway through that you didn't want to build a
skyscraper, you want to build a pirate ship. You aren't rewarded for
finishing a project. You aren't punished for not finishing a project. You
aren't rewarded for building it one way over another. The experience
itself is rewarding, the goals are malleable, and the enjoyment comes from
the freedom and lack of controlling structure.

> So literally, let's pick an activity and dissect it.  Combat?  Crafting?
> Stamp collecting?  Sneaking around?  Deer hunting?  Politics?  Running a
> business?  Fashion shows?

How about playing a MMOG? :)

> One clue to intrinsic rewards is single player games.  They don't rely on
> the multiplayer intrinsic of the social bond, so they must have a way of
> calling to players through the activity that they present.

There are a thousand different types of rewards out there. The lack of one
or two is by no means an impediment.

> Any depth of experience requires a carefully sculpted setting.  It would
> be kinda difficult to carry off Deus Ex while a swarm of players is
> zerging the facility, wiping out the NPC guards.

I agree that SOME depth of experience requires a sculpted setting, but
who's to say that a swarm of players zerging a facility doesn't have it?

Depth is merely something which has one or more of the following:
  A) a variety of viable solutions.
  B) a variety of viable paths to a solution.
  C) a systematic dependency on other systems.

The third one there - the systematic thing - that requires a different
type of sculpted setting that you are suggesting. One that could easily
scale with players.

> Or playing Deer Hunter with the Silly Dance guild doing a conga line
> through the middle of the woods, scaring off all wildlife within a half
> mile.

One might argue that this could only improve the Deer Hunter experience :)

-- 
Sean Howard