Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs)

[Aurel Mihai]

On 9/4/07, Damion Schubert <dschubert at gmail.com> wrote:
> Saying
> "what if there was a monster that took FORTY of us to take down?"
> is a uniquely evocative statement.  It is, as you state, an earnest
> desire to be part of something big.  It's big, and it's visceral.  Having
> your small 5-man squad win a battle which adds a few points to some
> global scoreboard is interesting, in a fantasy football sort of way, but
> what players want from their massively multiplayer games are actions
> which are viscerally... well... massively multiplayer.
>

What's the motivation behind being part of something big? IMO it's the
desire to be big oneself. A player that takes part in a 5 hour, 40
player raid can later say "I was there!" similarly to a war vet that
can name an important engagement he was in. This is WoW's solution to
making the individual feel important (the whole point of gaming) while
maintaining the massively multiplayer atmosphere. It works for them,
but is there another way to achieve individual importance without
being part of that huge raid? I think Spore is trying to explore the
possibility to take advantage of that huge casual gamer market that
will never have 5 hours straight to devote to a game, but still wants
to feel like they've made a lasting, global impact on something.