[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN} Who to design for?

[John Buehler]

In reading the recent articles about permadeath and food, combined with the
post of the interview with the ex-Sigil employee, I'm wondering if there's
value in some discussion about who MMOs really should be designed for.

I can well imagine that the very idea of claiming that anyone should be told
that they should be designing for any particular demographic will incur
rancor from some folks here, but I'll pursue the notion anyway.

Many posters here have experience in building and/or running multiplayer
games.  I assume that essentially everyone here plays.  We all have our
anecdotes based on our experiences.  In my case, I rely a bunch on "ivory
tower theoretical BS" to work my way towards a game design that I think will
be popular.

What do people think really is the experience that people are likely going
to be drawn to in monstrous numbers?  Clearly World of Warcraft has drawn
the masses.  But why?  I ask that not to analyze World of Warcraft as a
panacea, but to ponder the value of things like permadeath, food, realism,
treadmills and so on as a means of drawing people to a game.

Twice I said "people" instead of "players".  I said that because I like to
think that there remains some kind of online experience that can draw
billions of people to it.  The World Wide Web has done this already.  I
wonder if an online entertainment venue can approach that appeal.  Would
such a venue have permadeath?  Food?  Realism?  Elves?  Spaceships?  Guns?

Would anyone here care to take a stab at characterizing the person that a
vast entertainment venue would be designed for?  Is that person computer
literate?  Well-educated?  Religious?  Prone to addiction?  Hardcore?  Care
bear?  Tall?  Tends to cross their eyes a lot?

Who do YOU design for?  Are you trying to reach "the masses" with your
designs or are you interested in designing the game that you want to play,
and you're assuming that there are enough people like you that it could be
financially successful?  Or are you going by what you know about games that
have been financial successes, and trying to think up a favorite variation
of that that "fixes its problems"?

Do you start your design with the game or do you start with your target
player?

JB