[MUD-Dev] Player Justice

[Amanda Walker]

On Apr 9, 2004, at 6:36 PM, Paul Schwanz wrote:

> I believe there is an untapped market of gamers who are tired of
> having games sanitized of everything that might threaten what a
> vocal few feel they are entitled to--a market who feels frustrated
> over the designer's insistence that nothing can really matter very
> much in their game, because a vocal few do not have the maturity
> to handle being on the losing side of something that does matter.

I think there is an untapped market of gamers for whom danger is not
a primary goal.  In fact, according to recent surveys that have been
quoted here on mud-dev, the largest segment of online gaming is
middle aged adults playing *card and puzzle games*.  Think really
hard about that for a moment.  Not 3D texture mapped extravaganzas.
Dinky little games whipped together with Flash and Python.

Then take a look at Second Life.  No levels, no combat except in
designated zones (and no side effects if you get "killed" even
there, beyond getting teleported home).  There are people paying
much more per month in real $ than Sony could ever dream of charging
for Everquest or SWG--people spending hours building and tweaking
player-generated content (in fact, all content is player-generated
beyond the basic landscape, and even that is player-generated in
older areas).  It's by far the most MUD-like of the current crop of
commercial MMO offerings.

Not everyone is looking for a treadmill they can "win".

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