[MUD-Dev2] Player Choice - How Much is Too Much?

Amanda Walker amanda at alfar.com
Mon Jan 21 12:48:05 CET 2008


On Dec 21, 2007, at 8:11 AM, Christopher Lloyd wrote:
> Whilst I haven't played Guild Wars, I do appreciate a game with a
> proper plot. Does anyone happen to know the ratio of competitive team
> players vs co-operative team players? I'd be interested in knowing. As
> I understand it, playing co-operatively is akin to playing a
> single-player game, with several players (c.f. Baldur's Gate).

I don't know the ratio, but there appear (from a player's point of  
view) to be two major communities, each of which is well supported by  
the game:

- Single-player or cooperative storyline RPG, punctuated with towns  
where you can sell your ph4t l3wt and upgrade your gear.  There's also  
explorer and achiever sidelines, where you can get special titles for  
exploring every inch of the world or doing every quest (neither is  
necessary to follow the storyline, and in fact for alternate  
characters, once you know your way around the world, you can run  
through abbreviated versions of the story arcs).   Once you complete  
the arc, you can go back and do it in "hard mode", which brings much  
of the alleged excitement of raids to the game ;-).

One interesting aspect is that single-player play is not highly  
penalized compared to grouping--it's quite possible to log in, pick a  
set of "henchmen", and run a mission during your lunch hour.  It's  
also possible to group with friends (and given the level cap, you all  
end up at level 20 soon enough that there's no "level skew" to prevent  
it--levels 1-20 are basically just a tutorial :-)).

- Team based PvP: Either after doing the RP arc, or after simply  
creating a max-level PvP-only character, you drop right into a variety  
of squad-based PvP "twitchy" games, including a ranked ladder with  
monetary prizes.  This amounts to RPG graphics with almost FPS style  
gameplay--nonstop go-go-go CTF, tower defense, or just "most # of  
kills" duels.

There's some overlap between the two groups, in a couple ways:
- The RPG story arc can unlock elite skills that can be used in PvP  
(or you can just buy an unlock kit)
- Good PvPers (or RPGers, for that matter) can make good in-game money  
doing "runs" for people or groups through the harder RPG missions.  A  
particular route through the map ("The Droknar Run") is very  
profitable to people who can lead a run through it.

However, someone who wants just straight squad PvP doesn't have to  
deal with the RP side at all, and someone who just wants to experience  
the story doesn't have to deal with PvP.  It works pretty well.

> How important is background plot to players?

Differs widely.  I like it a lot.  The world-building, graphics,  
musical score, and RP story plots are actually quite good (much better  
than WoW, though WoW is better for big raiding--GW maxes out at 8  
players per team), and the rewards from the story quests don't involve  
much grinding.

> One interesting
> side-effect of worlds with smaller player bases (MUDs generally) is  
> the
> chance to get your own name in the history books. Unlike WoW, The
> Matrix Online and Guild Wars, if the player base is only ~10,000, and
> the number of truly active, involved players is ~500, there's actually
> a very good chance that you'll be able to take part (or even lead) a
> portion of the world's plotline. Even more so if you're a
> guild/city/clan leader, or at the top of the ladder for your class.

In GW, fame isn't reflected in the storyline, but it *is* reflected in  
the guild ladder, the monetary (and hardware) prizes, etc. Rather than  
have people hijack the RP storyline, there's an explicit "sports  
league" outlet for this, complete with seasons, the ability to watch  
matches, wager on the outcomes, etc.

--Amanda




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