[MUD-Dev2] Specialization

[cruise]

Thus spake John Buehler...
> I wanted to isolate these two comments by Sean to underscore the whole
> Socialist/Capitalist or Socialist/Democratic schism in both designer and
> player debates over game design.  I'm sure that this is no revelation for
> most here, but I figure it's worth particular emphasis.

This is pretty much the question I was trying to ask with my "How much 
is too much" thread from earlier - how much player choice is necessary - 
or put the other way around, how much control should a game designer 
exercise?

> The most extreme Socialist designers have a belief about players that they
> are directionless, uncreative, unmotivated players.  As people, they may be
> highly dynamic, intelligent and so on, but as players their drive is not in
> gear.  Such players just want to be shown what to do.  Like watching a
> movie, they get to sit and be entertained.
> 
> The most extreme Capitalist designers have a believe about players that they
> are purposeful, creative, go-getters who simply want the tools and
> opportunity to create empires, businesses, reputations and so forth.  As the
> inverse of the unmotivated player, these people may be rather lumpy in real
> life.  But when exposed to the possibilities of a game environment, they may
> find that they are highly motivated there.

There is definately no one answer - different people do enjoy different 
levels of interaction. Or, like myself, can enjoy different levels of 
interaction at different times, or in different styles of gameplay.

> There is clearly a spectrum in place, and different designers and players
> drop into that spectrum in different locations.  However, that axis of
> design thought is certainly extant.
> 
> Perhaps a simpler way to view the axis is how motivated players are to seek
> out and/or fashion their own entertainment.  So is the purpose of a game to
> entertain players or to let them find their own entertainment?  That is the
> consideration that establishes the spectrum from Socialist Designer to
> Capitalist Designer.  Some will say that it is clearly one over the other,
> while others will say that the balance point is somewhere in between.

For myself, I can enjoy a very linear game if the storyline is enganging 
enough (FF7 is still in my top three games ever, purely because of the 
emotional impact it had). I can enjoy a free-form, explore-the-world 
game if the world to explore is interesting and deep enough for me to 
keep finding things to do (Morrowind is also in my top three).

To get very generalised for a moment: Head or heart.

Head: Make things interesting and mentally engaging - clever mechanics, 
deep, non-repetitve gameplay.

Heart: Make things emotionally appealing, draw the player and make them 
care about the characters.

Currently, most games manage one or the other. You could almost define 
the difference between Western and Japanese RPG's as the difference 
between "Head" and "Heart".

> There are myriad spin-off considerations to this, of course.  How do
> motivated players interact with unmotivated players?  Can motivated players
> be leveraged to entertain unmotivated ones?  Should the two extremes
> interact at all?  These considerations have spawned many discussions through
> the years, and I'll be interested to find out if calling out the existence
> of the Player Motivation Level (or Socialist/Capitalist) Axis will aid in
> future discussions.

Obviously, if my categorisation above is anywhere near true, the 
ultimate gameplay will manage strong hooks both mentally and emotionally 
- currently, it's considered too difficult to automate telling an 
engaging story while the player has free reign to wander off and 
generally mess up the story at will.

That problem is only compunded when you have hundreds or thousands of 
players interacting and messing up the story. More so when they fall at 
different places along the spectrum: "Motivated"/"Head"/"Min-maxers" --> 
"Unmotivated"/"Heart"/Role-players"

None of those spectra are exactly the same, but I suspect they are close 
enough for game designer work :P