[MUD-Dev] Welcome to the Jungle

[Jeff Cole]

From: szii at sziisoft.com

>  From my experience, PvP is a problem because a good chunk of
>  people don't like the feeling of "being taken advantage of."
>  That goes hand in hand with PvP.  People don't like being jumped
>  on CR.  They hate "wandering mobs" when they're not ready.
>  People's egos are fragile and a prep'd combatent who waylays a
>  person a person is almost always GOING TO WIN.  People don't like
>  that.  >

From: Michael Tresca

>  Too many MMORPG are just a vast morass of filthy humanity, taking
>  anyone and everything who has a credit card into the fold.  When
>  left to their own devices, the culture degenerates into a "strong
>  survives" GOPer biased playerbase.  Instead of cultivating
>  players who feel vested in the game, you fire the sound shot of a
>  race to become the best -- and to abuse the system before the
>  other guy figures out how to abuse it more.

Mayhap some fertile soil in which the seeds of portrayal of the
human condition might assert (have asserted) some purchase?

I sense, though, that the portrayal for which Raph longs carries the
opening credit, "A <producer's name> production of a <world
designer's name> film ..."  That is, the portrayal would be
developer-driven through context/content/story rather than
player-driven.

Michael's characterization, "a vast morass of filthy humanity," is a
strong reaction to a portrayal of *a* human condition.  But it is a
portrayal neither scripted nor directed by a developer.  Rather, the
developer leased the theater to the actors.

I am not at all convinced that, within an MMO*,
context/content/story is capable of convincingly portaying the human
condition.  I think that the inherent player -to-player interaction
must necessarilly provide a more compelling portrayal.  To whatever
extent developers can provide compelling context/content/story
elements, player reaction to and development of such elements will
be moreso.  In a very Ty-Webb-and-the-Zen-of-Nightputting way, "Be
the story, Danny."

It requires neither a Harvard MBA nor a one-ness with her game and
the gaming industry for a game company CEO to recognize that few
customers will subscribe to a service in which such customer always
has to play the Leper of Calcutta; also, that players must be able
to disengage from (or not engage at all) the portayal.

Yrs. Afftcy,
Jeff Cole

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