nu.kanga.list.mud-dev

26058: Re: [MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

On Tue, 17 Dec 2002, Dubious Advocate wrote:

> But it's a critical flaw for a commercial product. I'm not in
> favor of being forced into a very rigid and specific playstyle
> simply because a developer somewhere deems it desirable and
> therefore mandatory.

No it's not. We own two successful commercial games that will ban
you on the spot if you use one character to help another
intentionally, even indirectly. You ARE allowed multiple characters,
but they are never allowed to be on at the same time, never allowed
to be used by anyone else (or sold/transferred to anyone else), and
never allowed to help each other. Sure, people get away with it, but
we sure as heck try to stop them from utilizing that play style. It
may be a valid play style in other games, but not in ours.

If you were to redefine your assertion as stating that it's not
viable for a commercial product on the scale of Everquest, I might
be tempted to agree with you, though as the market grows, there will
be more and more room for games catering to specific play styles.

> Ironically people like me are in the majority and we consitute the
> ideal customer.  We pay the same revenue, we burden the system
> least, we're most likely to interact with other customers in the
> most positive light, and in general are most likely to stay the
> longest because we avoid burnout.

For games with subscription models, that is indeed true.
 
--matt


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