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

[John Buehler]

Michael Hartman writes:

> John Buehler wrote:
> >>>Chatting and emoting in Second Life? Definitely.  In World of Warcraft?
> >>>Does it get me my tier 3 gear?
> >>
> >>      It does if you do it to the right person.
> >
> >
> > "The right person" is the key.  The "right people" aren't
> playing World of
> > Warcraft.  They're all over in Second Life, chatting and emoting.
>
> Huh? That sounds exceptionally elitist.

Take my comment in the same light as Richard Bartle's.

> I believe what Dr. Bartle meant was through chatting and socializing you
> form friendships and associations. It is through these associations that
> you form groups and guilds which work together to accomplish goals (like
> obtaining your tier 3 gear).

Yes, I understand.  And what I meant is that the original point of all this
is that the sophistication of emoting systems is lacking in certain games.
I was speculating as to the reason for that lack.  I point the finger at an
absence of need, based on the preferences of players that are drawn to those
"certain games".  They are drawn to those games because of the activities
that are permitted and encouraged.  Ergo, a game design supports a certain
demographic, and that demographic has things that it wants and that it
doesn't want.

I speculate that games in the approximate mold of EverQuest draw a player
who happens to be uninterested in a sophisticated emoting system.  So a
primitive emoting system works just fine.  It supports things like
organizing groups and such.  There's little need for emoting in the business
of leveling.

JB