[MUD-Dev] I Want to Bake Bread

[Neeby]

I haven't seen any discussion on this Editorial, so I thought perhaps it 
hadn't been seen.

Here's the link: 

  http://uo.stratics.com/news/Editorials.shtml#newsitem975938658,92476,

Or you can go to UOSS uo.stratics.com and read it in the Editorials
Section.

The article was written by Sie Ming, the creator and keeper of the
extensive Alchemy and Poisoning Guide at UOSS.

Here's a snippet:

"10. Help us diversify. If every baker in your game is exactly the
same we'll be bored, and the things we make will be viewed as
commodities. Those things will cause us to quit playing your game
sooner. We would rather be able to strive to be one of a few who are
the best at baking a particular cuisine than to be among hundreds who
are all equally "the best" at baking everything. We're okay with
having limits on what we can make, or the quality of what we make
based on our choices in the game. We don't necessarily like it, but
we'll put up with it, because the alternative is worse. "

<EdNote: Copy appended>

--<cut>--
I want to bake bread

[a letter to game developers]

I am an under served part of the Massively Multi-player Online Game
(MMOG) player base. I'm not a large part, and you'd be a fool to base
your whole game around me. But I think I'd make a welcome addition to
your bottom line. Evidence suggests that I don't cost much to support
and that I tend to stick around when I find a game that I like. I'll
also add to your game in other, less tangible, ways. But you'll have
to decide what those intangibles are worth.

I'm also a fairly untapped market. It's been a few years since a game
has come out that even attempted to attract me. Many of my members
have never even played a MMOG. We like simulations that deal with
people and building: SimCity, Railroad Tycoon, Capitalist Pig, The
Sims. The type of game where we're "making a name for ourselves"
without a lot of violence. Most of us don't even know there are games
like that with other real people playing. When many of these potential
players of your game hear "multi-player" they think Quake. Show us
that there's more available.

Some game developers have even told me that I'm not welcome in their
game:

  Shadowbane: "We don't play games to bake bread, we play them to
  crush!"

  Legends of Kesmai: "Tired of making furniture? Want some real
  monsters to fight?"


That's fine. In fact, I appreciate knowing ahead of time that there
won't really be much in your game of interest to me. It's certainly
better than being lead to believe that there will be something and
then being disappointed. It's better for these developers as well,
because it keeps me from spreading disparaging reviews of their game.

Because of Shadowbane's ad we rally around "baking" as our
catchphrase. I've also called myself by the more generic --and more
accurate-- term: "crafter". You see, it's not just bread I want to
bake.I also want to bake armor and dresses, phasers and chairs,
scrolls and steam engines, swords and plow-shears, blasters and
potions. I want to bake bread and all of the other items and equipment
in your game.

There are a few things that you'll need to consider to keep me as part
of your player base. They are pretty obvious, and if you've thought
about attracting me as a customer, then you've probably thought of
most of these already. I'll just list them in case you missed one or
two:


  1. The things I make have to be desirable to at least some of the
  other players of your game. They should not be necessary for all
  other players (I know some of your other players have little or no
  use for me) but they should be useful to all of your players. Note
  that useful might also mean pretty, interesting looking, distinctive
  and so forth in this context.


  2. It should be possible for me to reach the same status --fame,
  loot, rank, level, gold...(whatever you use)-- as other segments of
  your player-base (Monster Hunters, Explorers, Player Killers, Role
  Players...). But it is certainly reasonable to take into account the
  amount of risk involved in the reward. Standing next to a forge is
  certainly much safer than killing Klingons. Mining may not be.


  3. I want to be able to enjoy the other parts of your game too. I
  know that I won't be as effective as a sergeant or wizard at
  fighting, but I want to be able to develop some of those
  abilities. At least let me develop them enough to explore the game
  that you created and occasionally adventure with my less mundane
  friends.

  By the same token, I have no problem with other players who want to
  bake a little bread, but they should not be as good as someone who
  devotes more time and effort to it.


  4. As much as I like the idea of the items I make having a permanent
  place in your world, it's more important to me in the long run that
  your economy works. With that in mind, don't forget to include
  mechanisms for the items I create to: age / break / be consumed /
  need repairs / need recharging / decay / wear out / or whatever
  seems appropriate in your game.


  5. It should be easy enough to buy goods from me that other players
  do not feel that they need to create mules to ensure that they have
  an adequate supply of the bread I bake.

  It should also be expensive enough to become a good baker that it is
  not cost effective to make a mule to produce bread for just one
  player. This cost does not have to be just in terms of shekels. I
  also consider the time that I have invested as part of that cost.


  6. Baking bread need not be a complicated "sub game" that takes a
  lot of time for you to code. In fact, most of my members are at
  least as interested in using and/or selling what they make as they
  are in the process of making it.

  But they don't want the baking to be tedious either. If they get an
  order for 100 apple pies then there should be a way to make the pies
  without getting Carpel Tunnel Syndrom. They understand that this has
  to be "balanced" (perhaps with higher failure, less ability gain or
  lower quality pies) that's okay with them.


  7. If you are interested in making a more involved "subgame" for
  baking then many of us would find it enjoyable. But --in deference
  to those of us who would not-- it should probably be optional. If
  recipes are needed to make sweet rolls, let us sell those recipes to
  players who do not enjoy the "research subgame". Those of us who are
  not interested in a particular "subgame" understand that this too
  needs to be balanced in some way.


  8. The economy in your game has to work. Your players have to have
  enough money that the most expensive things we can make are within
  reach of and useful to-- at least some of them. By the same token,
  your players cannot have so much money that our lesser goods --those
  made by new bakers-- sit on the shelves and prevent new bakers from
  enjoying your game.


  9. Our cost to produce things has to scale well. It doesn't work for
  our cheapest goods to cost 10 shekels to make and for our most
  expensive goods to cost 40 shekels to make. Everyone will buy the 40
  shekel variety and those that cannot yet make the 40 shekel variety
  will not sell anything. The necessary cost difference will depend on
  how scarce shekels are in your game. Keep in mind that the scarcity
  of shekels will change over time, and adjustments may be needed.


  10. Help us diversify. If every baker in your game is exactly the
  same we'll be bored, and the things we make will be viewed as
  commodities. Those things will cause us to quit playing your game
  sooner. We would rather be able to strive to be one of a few who are
  the best at baking a particular cuisine than to be among hundreds
  who are all equally "the best" at baking everything. We're okay with
  having limits on what we can make, or the quality of what we make
  based on our choices in the game. We don't necessarily like it, but
  we'll put up with it, because the alternative is worse.


  11.  We don't like competition from your game servers. If you don't
  spawn computer controlled characters to go out and kill monsters,
  then you should not spawn computer controlled characters to go out
  and sell things that are substantially the same as the stuff we
  make.

  However, we do understand that you will want to have computer
  controlled characters sell some items that are craftable --that's no
  problem-- but please do so in a way that does not make it impossible
  for new bakers to get started in their profession. This can be done
  by differentiating the items made by players and servers in terms of
  price, availability and/or quality.


  12. We don't like selling things to computer controlled
  characters. Those people who want to bake bread and sell it to
  computer controlled characters for money are not us. They are just
  looking for easy shekels without risk and without interacting with
  your other players. But you have to understand that if you want this
  to work then our lesser skilled members have to be able to make
  something that is useful and desirable to the other lesser skilled
  members of your player base (see 9 above).


  13. We hope you can devise a way that we can advance our skill
  without requiring us to make 10,000 widgets. It's not that we
  dislike making (and selling) widgets, it's just that we tend to
  flood the market if that's the only way for us to advance. We really
  can't help ourselves; we like to gain skill like anyone else. But we
  do know that flooding the market isn't good for anyone. Please give
  us a way to avoid that.


  14. It's probably not a good idea for us to become increasingly more
  efficient at producing relatively low level items. It is certainly
  nice for the egos (and purses) of crafters with high ability, but it
  tends to lower the price of items to the point where crafters of
  lesser ability are forced to sell their products at a loss if they
  want to sell them at all. This then encourages everyone to strive
  solely for the quickest advancement to the highest (ie profitable)
  ability levels instead of enjoying your game at each stage as they
  come to it.


  15. The amount of time it takes us to bake a few cakes should not
  depend on how quickly we can click our mouse button. It should not
  depend on how fast our connection to your game is It should not
  depend on how advanced our macro program is. Characters with the
  same traits, abilities, equipment and raw materials should take the
  same amount of time to whip up some cakes. Let the mechanics of your
  game determine how quickly we produce items. Please don't make us
  into "twitch bakers".


  16. When you're writing your game, give some thought to expanding
  crafting in the future; then don't forget us entirely. We tend to be
  less vocal than some of your player base, but are paying you the
  same amount to play. The additions need not be large, but they will
  encourage us to keep playing, and let us know you're listening. We
  generally think it's more important to tweak things to make them
  both balanced and useful than it is to add new things.


  17. Find some way to let us know about your game. There's a chance
  we'll stumble across it on our own, but you can increase that chance
  greatly by letting us know you've done these things. No one is
  marketing their game to us now. In fact, some games clearly don't
  want us baking bread anywhere near their players. We don't expect a
  major marketing campaign, but if you do some of the things listed
  above let us know so we can try them out.


The next game to really try to support our "style of play" will not
only gain many loyal players, but will also be enhancing the quality
of their player base. Not many kewl doodz bake bread.

Thanks, and we look forward to playing your game.

Sie Ming

SieMing at gatheringspot.com

[self appointed speaker for bread bakers of all varieties]

P.S. Feel free to reproduce this anywhere a game designer might see it. 
Posted on Monday, December 4, 2000, 9:04 AM EST by Sie Ming (Editorials)
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