[MUD-Dev2] [OFF-TOPIC] A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants

[Damion Schubert]

On 3/2/07, John Buehler <johnbue at msn.com> wrote:

>Yep.  I think that the organization system needs to be very prominent for
>that to work.  It may be that all that is needed is a virtual city that all
>players start in.  There are things to do there that are common to all
>players, such as buying and selling items, learning systems, owning
>property, finding teams - and finding interesting instances.  Once an
>instance is found, an in-game mechanism such as a ship, horses, a doorway,
>or whatever, then takes you to the specific game instance.  (Inspired by
>Frederik Pohl's "Gateway" series).


This was very similar to the way that Dungeons and Dragons Online
approached structuring their world and gameplay.  One of the constant
complaints about the game was how it didn't FEEL like a true virtual
world.

The thing about 'massively multiplayer' games is that they truly excite
the imagination, even if they don't always meet what shows up in your
mental image of the game.  'massively multiplayer' is just an evocative
phrase.  Maybe if someone can find an equally evocative way to say 'door
games', then that meme will gain traction.