[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Mechanical support for socializer playstyles

[Michael Chui]

On Fri, 18 May 2007 11:37:38 -0700, "Ian Hess" <ianhess at yahoo.com> said:

> It occurred to me after reading many stories in the last six months that
> MMOs have sufficiently complex models in place for some standard
> "negative" literary stories to occur.  The razing of the rper village in
> UO, the infiltration of a large guild in Eve Online, and many smaller
> scale events (city invasions in wow), match several common book plots. 
> However, when they occur in the context of an MMO, the frequent reaction
> is out of character anger, and breaking of immersion.

<snip>

I agree with you in principle, and I really like the direction you're
going. I'll try to respond in more detail and more specifically later,
but one thing I wanted to point out beforehand...

You're not using the term Socializer in the same way Bartle was in HCDS.
Quote, "Socialisers are interested in people, and what they have to say.
The game is merely a backdrop, a common ground where things happen to
players."

In your case, you're not building a game for socializers; you're
building a game where socializer may have some advantage and be
important and integral parts of the play (using both senses of the
word), but the game is still Achiever-oriented, because there are goals
and they're being reached for. Note that, regarding Achievers, Bartle
says, "Socialising is a relaxing method of discovering what other
players know about the business of accumulating points, that their
knowledge can be applied to the task of gaining riches."

That's precisely what you're proposing, unless I'm misreading. But I do
like your idea. I'll make an effort to respond to it directly later.