[MUD-Dev] New Yorker Article

[Marc Fielding]

Dave Rickey said:

> Found this through Slashdot, it's a surprisingly perceptive piece
> that goes *way* beyond "Gamers are wierd, and here's how wierd they
> can get".  Raph presumably knows about it, since he was interviewed
> for it.  As far as "Mainstream Attention", I don't think you get
> much more mainstream than the New Yorker.

> http://www.newyorker.com/FACT/

<article snipped>

Agreed. An excellent article. The author really did her homework.

Best quote, IMHO:

	"The result was a lot of players whose experience of the game
	consisted mostly of being dead, a condition that discouraged
	them from continuing to pay their monthly fees."

It's the inevitable clash between a designer's well-meaning creative
idealism and the harsh reality of a gameworld centered around each
individual's pursuit of happiness. The fact that UO served as a
proving ground for future mmorpg's is perhaps its most important
contribution.

Marc

----------------------------------------------
Marc Fielding
marcfielding at earthlink.net

Current Research: The creation of group minds via involuntary
holarchic subsumption. >=)


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