[MUD-Dev2] [Media] Informal poll on MMOWatch

[Mike Sellers]

Mike Rozak wrote:
> A small (informal) poll on the mmo.rpgwatch.com web-site just caught my
> eye:
> 
> Favourite RPG element?
> 
> NPC interaction  (33.77%)
> Character development  (29.87%)
> Combat  (4.16%)
> Exploration  (24.68%)
> Puzzles  (1.3%)
> Questing  (6.23%)
> 
> If these numbers are right, why do MMOs (except perhaps Bioware's secret
> MMO) spend so LITTLE time on "NPC interaction" and "Exploration", and so
> MUCH time on "Combat" and "Questing"?

The easy (and probably mostly correct) answer is because combat and questing
are what we know and are the easiest to design.  The others are the wild and
mostly unknown frontier.  I've tried to sell MMO designs heavy on NPC
interaction for years; this is still seen by producers as primarily an area
of risk rather than reward.  

It may also be that the first two are cited so much more heavily simply
*because* they are so underused in current games.  People say they want what
they don't already have.

Then of course there's the ever-present sampling error that is particularly
troublesome in small informal online polls.  

And I have to ask: what do you know about Bioware's MMO that you aren't
telling the rest of us? :)  Is it just chock-full of NPC interaction and
exploration?

Mike Sellers