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

[Tess Snider]

On 5/18/07, Damion Schubert <dschubert at gmail.com> wrote:
> 3) Your game design should have casual appeal, which is usually about
> ensuring that the central theme or activity is not alienating to the casual
> player
> the first time he logs in, and is actually easy and fun without unnecessary
> roadblocks.
> 4) Your game design should result in a culture where hardcore players are
> evangelizing the game to casual players.  WoW's success comes largely
> from classic EQ players finally being willing to recommend an MMO to their
> wives and girlfriends.

Damion talks about this sort of "double coding" a lot, and it's a
pretty valid point.  There's a benefit to having a mixed culture of
hardcore and non-hardcore players.

However, it's also very important while we are designing our systems
to remember that what we think of as "hardcore" is often colored by
wildly incorrect stereotypes.  There are many, many casual Halo
players and there are also many, many hardcore knitters.  "Hardcore"
is more of an expression of a depth of involvement than it is an
expression of a type of activity.  While a hardcore player in WoW may
run raids every single night, a hardcore player in A Tale in the
Desert may be doing genetic engineering to attempt to breed a better
strain of flax.

Tess