[MUD-Dev] Retention without Addiction?

[Matt Mihaly]

On Tue, 10 Dec 2002, Paul Schwanz wrote:
> Matt Mihaly wrote:
 
>> Yes, I agree, people shouldn't drink and drive, or build cars
>> that explode when rear-ended. I disagree that game developers
>> shouldn't make games that encourage habitual play, just as I
>> would disagree that food makers shouldn't make tasty food that
>> encourages us to eat more, or that ski slope operators should
>> somehow make skiing less fun, so that people will not do it
>> habitually.

> OK.  But the whole point of the post which opened this thread was
> to explore whether an MMORPG that is fun or entertaining must be
> understood solely in terms of how well it encourages habitual or
> even obsessive play.  I proposed that we may actually be able to
> increase retention as well as entertainment value by offering
> games that have a more flexible, episodic approach to gameplay.  I
> pointed to television sitcoms and how they remain entertaining
> despite their episodic nature and despite commercial
> interruptions.  I talked about the fact that most of the
> best-sellers I've read lately have chapter breaks, which are
> obvious points of exit.  I noted that perhaps we could learn
> something from *good* books and *entertaining* sitcoms and how
> they keep readers and viewers coming back for more.

Oh, I agree. There's no reason to solely make games in which
habitual play is the norm. There's no reason not to make some games
that encourage 12-hour-a-day play though too. Different consumers
want different things.

> I'm not sure where you got the notion that I'm either in favor of
> tasteless food, boring ski slopes, less entertaining sitcoms,
> forgettable books, or games that are not fun.  And while I
> actually find some humor in seeing someone display the sort of
> philosophical flexibility that would make a contortionist wince,
> I'd hope we could get past abrogation of personal responsibility
> long enough to discuss whether we can make games that are more fun
> and more entertaining while not relying so heavily on habitual or
> obsessive feedback mechanisms.

I'm not sure why you got the notion that I was writing with you in
mind. That post wasn't in reply to you I don't think. As for
philosophical flexibility, I've simply laid out my moral
framework. I'm sorry if it's not convenient or palatable to you. It
is, however, a lot more well-thought out than what passes for a
moral framework in most people (seems to mainly consist of vague and
contradictory impulses informed by vaguely religious dogma).
 
> So you don't think that you have a moral obligation to move away
> from habitual gameplay.  OK, but I've seen sufficient evidence
> that many others here disagree.  As I pointed out in my first
> post, there may also be some financial motivation for moving away
> from habitual or obsessive mechanisms.  In addition, I don't
> particularly find the mechanisms in question to be all that
> entertaining in the first place, so I supposed that there was
> enough interest in moving away from them to spawn a discussion on
> possible alternatives.

I doubt you'd find a single issue upon which everyone does agree, so
that's not surprising. I agree there is definitely some financial
motivation in the subscription model for moving away from habitual
play, provided you can keep their attention over time, like a tv
show sometimes does. That's just one business model though. In the
hourly model (which is hardly used at all anymore, if at all), you'd
want people to play 24 hours a day if possible. I used to play an
hourly text MUD in which you accured skill points to spend on skills
while being online. It also offered the option of paying even while
NOT online, in order to gain that benefit. Then there are less
clear-cut models, like Achaea's. Generally, we find that the biggest
spenders are the ones who spend the most time online, but there are
also a significant number of big spenders who are big spenders
precisely because they don't wish to spend a lot of time online, and
who occasionally send me e-mails thanking me for providing a game
that lets people with jobs compete with people who don't have jobs.

--matt
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