[MUD-Dev2] (no subject)

[Andrew Budd]

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"?  


I'm kind of new here, but this poll strikes me for a couple of reasons. 
 First, I would guess that "Combat" and "Questing" would be so inflated
because the poll leaves no room for player interaction specifically,
which is a big part of MMOs for many players.  I hate to say it this
way, but thinking back to Bartle it has always kind of been suggested
that combat (pvp effectively especially), social interaction, character
development, and exploration were the staples of why people played these
types of games, and I think that this is kind of displayed by this poll.
 I would guess that any skewing in the results away from what you would
expect is a function of the poll's limitations, rather than some kind of
unexpected characteristic of reality.

The real issue is that Character development, questing, and puzzles are
almost dependent entirely on NPC interaction in many ways, causing this
to be sort of 'double counted' if you will.



That's my nickel's worth anyway.