[MUD-Dev2] Specialization

[Sean Howard]

"cruise" <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote:
> The stupid need entertaining too :P

Have you ever heard the saying, "Create something even a fool can use, and
only fools will use it?"

> Ever tried Settlers of Catan? Playing that with a few other young
> couples produces some very interesting bargainning suggestions...social
> interaction can be a game too, and including it as part of your game
> only widens your palette. Just because you personally find socialisation
> something to be avoided, don't dismiss it as useless for games.

Fair enough, but the rules of the game make no rules for the socialization
itself. Trading and bargaining is encouraged, but it doesn't go so far as
to force one approach over another. One can easily play the game against
an AI opponent using an emulated trading approach. But MMORPGs just come
right out and say, there is only one way to socialize and anything outside
of that is deviant behavior. That, I don't agree with.

> To mangle another quote: "You can please some of the people all of the
> time, all of the people some of time, but you can't please all of the
> people all of the time.

That doesn't mean you should sell yourself short! You can't please ALL,
but surely you can please MORE.

> To me, that's the way the world works - it's no more defeatist than
> admitting I can't fly.

You narrow definition of flying doesn't, I assume, apply to taking pilot
lessons and renting a plane? It's defeatist when you create strawman
arguments to defend your laziness.

> I'm not forcing anyone to do anything. I'm offering a certain form of
> entertainment, which people can partake of or not. No matter how many
> people choose to partake of it, that was their choice, and they may
> change that at any time.

But it's not always their choice, is it? When you are dealing with
community, you have to factor in that this community extends outside of
the game. How many people jump between games when their guild does -
whether they like the new home or not? How many girlfriends are forced to
play games with their boyfriends? How many people have to log into a game
to see friends that they wouldn't see otherwise? How many people have
their connections broken when a virtual world closes down?

The entire point of community is that it isn't strictly entertainment. A
problem occurs when the entertainment part is strictly at odds with the
community part. You can say that you are just offering entertainment, but
you aren't. You are offering entertainment and a community, and you've got
to acknowledge that!

-- 
Sean Howard