[MUD-Dev2] Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests]

[John Buehler]

> On Thu, 8 Jan 2009, John Buehler wrote:

> > Right. Because the purpose of these games is to provide a break from
> > putting extra effort into things. The only people who will put extra
> > effort into your game are the ones who have a definite surplus of
effort.
> > That may be due to a driven life, or simply a lack of opportunity
> > elsewhere to expend themselves productively. Players are shallow because
> > even the ones that are truly deep will spend their deep time elsewhere.
> > How many deep people will focus their energies on playing a game? We
don't
> > really. We spend them designing the things.

> Why wouldn't people spend their energies on a game? Currently the answer
to
> me is because the games don't provide the payout for that kind of effort.

That's true, but I dread the consequences.  It will end with virtual
environments being preferred over reality.  We already have problems with
that.  Certainly there are enough cautionary tales about the phenomenon.
 
> That's down to us game designers - I've mentioned how I'm trying to fix it
-
> what else can we do to give games the "reward" of a good (as in "deep and
> rewarding") book or film?

I wouldn't suggest targeting MMOs for that sort of thing.  I'd recommend
single player or group games.  You can control the experience of your
players there.  In an MMO, the players control the experience.  Pretty much
by definition.
 
JB