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

[Sean Howard]

 "Caliban Darklock" <cdarklock at gmail.com>  wrote:

> Of course it does. Complexity is one of the many ways we select a game
> from the vast array of possibilities. It's not that the average
> airplane passenger CAN'T learn to fly the plane, but that he doesn't
> WANT to.

Funny you should mention that, because Microsoft Flight Simulator is
pretty popular with the casual crowd.

There are three types of complexity: Kid's games, niche titles, and
everything else. The niche titles usually seem too complex because they
rely on a vocabulary and knowledge that the player has already dismissed
as too complex. If I created a rocket science game, it doesn't really
matter what the complexity of the game is. The average person is more than
capable of playing a very complex game, if it is presented properly. I
mean, look at the most popular casual games out. SimCity 2000? The Sims 2?
Those are some of the most complex games available!!

> Isn't the complexity of a game artificial by nature? I don't see how
> any game has a "natural" level of complexity. The level of complexity
> may be implied by the rules, but the rules are still artificial.

I believe that when you design something, there is a destination that you
must strive for, in which all parts work in absolute harmony. As such, the
complexity of a game should be an extension of the idea of what the game
is and should be. For instance, Tetris would not work with blocks of 3 or
blocks of 5. Finding that blocks of 4 thing was the sweet spot for that
idea. Chess is another one. It doesn't have too many unique pieces, just
6, and the colors of the checkerboard help diagonal movement be more
obvious. Super Mario Bros is another example - the way things interact in
that game aren't superfluous or exaggerated, and yet would be in something
like Castlevania where there is less of a puzzle/exploration/environmental
emphasis (which is good, because jumping in that game is hellish).

> There was a point, I think, where The Sims stopped even trying to be a
> game and just became an unapologetic experiment in game design. And
> that's fascinating, and I spent a lot of time playing around with the
> new dynamics and mechanics of the "Superstar" and "Makin' Magic"
> expansions, but they just weren't fun anymore.

I never really found the Sims fun in the first place, but I really liked
that they kept releasing major gameplay additions. I liked how the game
constantly grew over time and how future expansions may change behavior in
previous ones, similar to a MMORPG with many expansions. But eventually,
each Sims package just became a collection of furniture.

>> The only way to keep a game from becoming too hardcore is to actively
>> punish the hardcore players for their behavior.
>
> This is an intriguing idea, and I'd like to hear a more detailed
> example. On a theoretical basis alone, I think you've hit on something
> important.

WoW already has something like that with rested xp. If you play longer,
you get diminishing returns on your grinding.

On a side note, I still can't figure out why games give an xp bonus to
groups. Here, you've got a bunch of people who are more than capable to
defeating creatures without breaking a sweat, and they get MORE xp by
adding MORE members to their party. I say go the other way. That solo guy
who isn't backed by a healer and a tank deserves the xp boost more.
Grouping people get their crap easiler anyway.

> A "hardcore" goal needs to display meaningful skill, ideally at a
> level few players will achieve.

Maybe, but I think that collections with increasingly retarded goals is
pretty hardcore too. I think the whole Xbox 360 achievement system really
goes after people who will do anything for a cookie.

> Pushing through that desire to give up naturally and normally takes
> him to a level fewer players achieve.

I think the fact that he sees not continually going through a repetitive
time trial over and over and over again for increasingly smaller returns
as "that desire to give up" is what makes him hardcore :)

-- 
Sean Howard