[MUD-Dev2] Player Choice - How Much is Too Much?

[cruise]

Thus spake Miroslav Silovic...
> I think cruise here overstated his argument, because in my opinion, 
> certain game design decisions simply don't matter.

No argument there - I was expecting a little more resistance :P 
Certainly you don't want to over-regulate everything.

> So I'd say that certain -parts- of the game 
> design are hard, and the designers should try to identify those and 
> retain control. For everything else, listening to the players is the 
> obvious thing to do.

This is the challenge - walking that fine line.

The player created stories are the ones they feel emotionally attached 
to, and so will always be far more rewarding and involving than any you 
can script. Your game needs to offer a framework in which the players 
can create their own stories.

But, and this is the trick, to be really enjoyable, they still have to 
good stories. "I completely dominated those 10 giant rats!" really won't 
cut it. "I totally pwned that n00b" is equally banal.

The current games positively encourage taking the easiest route, rather 
than facing difficult challenges which provide narrow victories (or even 
losses) - people's natural inclination is opposite to that which is 
generally the most fulfilling, and the grind simply re-inforces that.

The context and type of that challenge will vary from person to person, 
as John Buehler and Lachek Butalek eloquently explained - either better 
division within games, or smaller, more focused games. But within any of 
them, the player needs to be guided as invisibly as possible away from 
the low-hanging fruit.