[MUD-Dev2] What do Players For in a Game?

[Christopher Lloyd]

As the title suggests. I found myself thinking about this of late. If
you gave a test group half a dozen different games to play, what
defining characteristics do you think would draw them to rate one or
two as "better"?

Now, I'm going to qualify this a little; Graphics, box art and quality
of the paper manuals (if any) aside, a player's first experience starts
with "choose your character" and their in-game experience. I'm sure
that with enough texture artists and 3d modellers, a game designer
could come up with something that looks awesome (with lens flares!),
but what's the substance of the game that really gets people going?

First, there's setting. Some people just really want to play a half-elf
vampire warlock. Others just really like the idea of being a
cyber-feline. So obviously Guild Wars and WoW is going to appeal to
different people to The Matrix Online or CoX.

Secondly, there's the expectations of that setting that the player
already might have. If you are a new player to WoW, and get to the
"choose your race" section, and the choices are "human, dwarf, orc,
goblin, orge", then at least one in ten of you will say, "WTF? Where's
the elf?" So there's a certain amount of stereotyping involved.
Warhammer is different to World of Warcraft is different to Guild Wars
is different to Neverwinter Nights, but they still have to have humans,
dwarves and elves, right?

This also extends to more detailed aspects of the game. In CoX, certain
characters can fly. But that's fine, because they're superheroes. But
flying orcs is a no-go. Guild Wars players frequently complain that
they can't jump. Why? I don't know. The designers have produced a game
where the "jump" action isn't required. But players expect it.

This is also known as "realism". Players have pre-determined ideas
about what's "realistic" in game worlds. 

Storyline helps. It's often something to read while you're on the bus
home from the game shop or waiting while the game is installing. Have
you found any examples of a game storyline that makes you think, "Yeah!
I want to play THIS game and find out what happens next!" rather than,
"Okay, that's a decent story. I'm still going to be a human warrior,
though".

Discuss.

C.


-- 

Christopher Lloyd

Email: crl199 at alumni.soton.ac.uk
Tel:   +44 (0) 7718 542837