[MUD-Dev] Social Networks

[Matt Mihaly]

On Fri, 23 Aug 2002, Harrok wrote:
> From: "Matt Mihaly" <the_logos at achaea.com>
 
>> However, I'm looking at up-to-the-minute stats for Achaea, and
>> noticing that approximately 40% of our players who are currently
>> online are in a players player-city. Granted, Achaea is a lot
>> less goal-oriented than Everquest, but cities don't have to be a
>> wealth of excitement for them to be attractive to
>> players. They're where players can go to be somewhat safe from
>> their enemies (some people almost never leave their city due to
>> the fact that they are trying to wait out the bloodlust of
>> someone they previously wronged). They're where a lot of quality
>> roleplaying takes place, and so on.

> I haven't played Achaea -- clearly I should. Those figures suggest
> your cities do work as advertised and achieve a critical mass of
> people in them, although I wonder how those figures vary during
> the course of the day?

Well, they do vary some. For instance, right now, 48% of the online
players are hanging out in their player cities. Keep in mind that
this may simply be an indication that we're not providing enough for
our players to do outside the cities, though I'm fairly sure that
would only explain a part of it.
 
> It's a problem for people like me -- as a player -- rather than a
> problem for developers, but those of us in places like Australia
> generally find the quality of the gaming experience much lower,
> because the vast bulk of MUD/MMORPG players are in North
> America. It's like perpetually wandering the world at 2:00am on a
> Tuesday morning ;-)

> But of course that's not a problem that game developers can
> addresss.

I'm not sure that's entirely true. Having more events at times that
are good for players in your timezone helps some I've noticed. Makes
the world feel more alive for those playing at off-peak
hours. Unfortunately, it's not something we do a lot because, well,
most of the admins are unlikely to be around at peak times for you.

--matt


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