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22705: [MUD-Dev] Welcome to the Jungle
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From: Jeff Cole <jeff.cole@mindspring.com>
Newsgroups: nu.kanga.list.mud-dev
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2002 15:21:01 -0500
References: [1]
Organization: Kanga.Nu
From: szii@sziisoft.com
> From my experience, PvP is a problem because a good chunk of
> people don't like the feeling of "being taken advantage of."
> That goes hand in hand with PvP. People don't like being jumped
> on CR. They hate "wandering mobs" when they're not ready.
> People's egos are fragile and a prep'd combatent who waylays a
> person a person is almost always GOING TO WIN. People don't like
> that. >
From: Michael Tresca
> Too many MMORPG are just a vast morass of filthy humanity, taking
> anyone and everything who has a credit card into the fold. When
> left to their own devices, the culture degenerates into a "strong
> survives" GOPer biased playerbase. Instead of cultivating
> players who feel vested in the game, you fire the sound shot of a
> race to become the best -- and to abuse the system before the
> other guy figures out how to abuse it more.
Mayhap some fertile soil in which the seeds of portrayal of the
human condition might assert (have asserted) some purchase?
I sense, though, that the portrayal for which Raph longs carries the
opening credit, "A <producer's name> production of a <world
designer's name> film ..." That is, the portrayal would be
developer-driven through context/content/story rather than
player-driven.
Michael's characterization, "a vast morass of filthy humanity," is a
strong reaction to a portrayal of *a* human condition. But it is a
portrayal neither scripted nor directed by a developer. Rather, the
developer leased the theater to the actors.
I am not at all convinced that, within an MMO*,
context/content/story is capable of convincingly portaying the human
condition. I think that the inherent player -to-player interaction
must necessarilly provide a more compelling portrayal. To whatever
extent developers can provide compelling context/content/story
elements, player reaction to and development of such elements will
be moreso. In a very Ty-Webb-and-the-Zen-of-Nightputting way, "Be
the story, Danny."
It requires neither a Harvard MBA nor a one-ness with her game and
the gaming industry for a game company CEO to recognize that few
customers will subscribe to a service in which such customer always
has to play the Leper of Calcutta; also, that players must be able
to disengage from (or not engage at all) the portayal.
Yrs. Afftcy,
Jeff Cole
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