[MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?

[Sean Howard]

"Mark Mensch" <mark at larping.net> wrote:

> First, there is the huge numbers of people playing a single game.
> I won't go into detail this aspect has as any developer knows what
> happens when you get thousands of people together online.  I do
> not know of other gaming in the past that had that many active
> 'real time' players.

Massively multiplayer is nothing new. Habitat/Club Caribe on the
Commodore 64 had massive amounts on online people. MUDs aren't
exactly new either - and while they have generally been between 20 -
100 simultaneous users, there have been ways that these users can
interact with the world so that you are effectively playing with
thousands, a few dozen at a time.

Whether you have 100 players or 1000 players, the end result is
essentially the same. There are too many to interact with directly,
and too many to know personally. Basically, asynchronous
strangers. So far, I have yet to see any reason why MMORPGs need to
have multiple thousands of users compared to multiple hundreds. I
don't see any significant understanding that these numbers have over
something like Battle.net or even just the GameFAQs forums.

You don't need MMOGs to understand people.

> Next is the anonymity.  Everyone is basically an unknown.  You
> don't know if you are playing with a 13 or 80 year old, male or
> female, etc.  Whereas this is not inherently a problem (if they
> can play, let them play) the issues come up when people feel they
> can take that anonymity to the edge - using it to grief people,
> cheat the game and basically do things that they would never even
> consider if they were in a face-to-face game.

That's not anonymity. That's the context of the game. The rules you
go by - the decisions you make - are defined by this context. You
aren't anonymous. Sure, you aren't an 18 year old nymphomaniac
Japanese schoolgirl either, but people can identify your avatar out
of a crowd. It just doesn't reflect on you personally because it is
a game. If you get griefed by BuzzCut76, you can avoid him and tell
others to avoid him as well.

For instance, when my friends and I play Zelda: The Four Swords,
there is back stabbing, vendettas, and all sorts of things we
wouldn't do to each other in person. That's because the game not
only allows a safe way to do that without affecting us outside the
game, but because the game encourages it and even rewards it. We are
anonymous and we are known.

I've seen the effects of the nearly anonymous social adventuring go
on all the time with my webcomic. You wouldn't believe the kind of
hate mails I get from people who don't fear having to see me the
next day or ever again. I certainly don't think that MMOGs, and
MMOGs alone, are the only place you can find that behavior.

- Sean Howard
www.squidi.net
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