[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

Caliban Tiresias Darklock caliban at darklock.com
Sat Jan 4 14:35:18 CET 2003


From: "Marc Fielding" <fielding at computer.org>

> Another way would be to simply charge for additional characters in
> an MCS system. Resource costs are covered and casual users are
> unaffected.

But that's exactly what an SCS system is -- if you want a second
character on the same server, you buy a second account. I know
that's more expensive than you personally prefer, but a character is
a character. You pay, initially, for the ability to play one
character. If you want the ability to play two, then you should pay
twice as much. The game doesn't differentiate between characters
owned by different players and characters owned by the same player,
and it shouldn't. The accounting department shouldn't, either.

> Most players probably won't have the time to invest in more than
> one server community.

Exactly, and since more characters necessarily entails more
communities, most players will content themselves with fewer
characters than they might otherwise prefer.

>> So what exactly ARE people trying to accomplish with this SCS/MCS
>> discussion? Anything?

> For me, the discussion transcends SWG and is focused on the impact
> of SCS on the casual gamer.

I don't think SCS really *has* an effect on the casual gamer beyond
its residual effects on the non-casual gamers. If Joey can't mule
half a dozen characters to do the things he doesn't know because he
doesn't have the spare cash for all those accounts, maybe he'll
actually interact with a character controlled by someone
else. That's the impact on a casual gamer; the guy who normally
doesn't talk to other people suddenly decides it might be worth it,
and the casual gamer has a greater chance of interacting with other
people.

I'm curious as to your definition of a "casual gamer" and your
explanation of how SCS impacts such a player.


_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev




More information about the mud-dev-archive mailing list