[MUD-Dev] New Bartle article

Adam Martin amsm2 at cam.ac.uk
Tue Mar 13 16:43:21 CET 2001


----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Hook" <bwh at wksoftware.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2001 7:48 AM
Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] New Bartle article

> While "thinking outside the box" (a phrase that is practically
> meaningless now) is laudable, people do happen to like things
> they're familiar with, be it class names, archetypes or just "being
> like that guy in that book".  People know and understand elves.  Now
> move on to a universe that is far more alien -- Jorune comes to mind
> -- and people balk because they don't necessarily want to relearn
> all their fundamental assumptions.  While part of this can be
> attributed to their unwillingness to think outside the box, part of
> it is just a desire to play the game without subjecting yourself to
> a huge "unlearning" process followed by a massive reeducation
> period, only to lose interest in the new universe after about 2
> hours.

Is this perhaps a large part of why LOTR starts out in a very
recognisably pastoral England-like Shire? Why the WOT books start out
in a plain small village, thus giving the reader a gentle introduction
and a chance to pick things up slowly as they go along, rather than
suddenly having to be aware and understanding of the important facts
about an entire new world.

Adam M

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