[MUD-Dev] NEWS: Why Virtual Worlds are Designed By Newbies -No, Really! (By R. Bartle)

[Koster, Raph]

Per Magne Bjørnerud wrote:

>   You are using the term "Virtual Worlds", not MMOGs. Why?

...

> Hm. The post came out a tad negative, I didn't mean to do
> that. But I think you need to think more about the term "Virtual
> World". If you are talking about MMOGs, you are covering a big
> genre and a lot of people is simply not interested in what you
> want.

This is a common framework for the discussion on the various MMORPG
forums. It's a simple terminology misunderstanding.

To Richard (and to me), "virtual world" is simply an umbrella term
to encompass the entire field.

    virtual world > MMOG

To many MMORPG players, it's a term referring to a
simulationist-based MMORPG.

    MMOG != virtual world

The problem for folks in group A is that everyone is assuming a
whole host of design characteristics when the term "virtual world"
is used, characteristics that are not implied by the speaker. And if
the audience in general has already made the terminology decision,
then we're probably fighting the tide.

The problem for folks in group B is that they have no umbrella
term. They regard virtual worlds as different from MUDs which are
different from MMORPGs which are different from MMOFPSs. Given that
these are (dammit) ALL THE SAME DESIGN PROBLEM AND ALL THE SAME
FIELD, this is a major issue for having any sort of clear
discussion.

Folks in group B tend to think that they AREN'T the same design
problem because they approach things purely fom the experiential
point of view. Design aims at the experiential, so I have great
sympathy for them on this point, but you can have two very different
experiences where the underlying mechanics are extremely similar...

-Raph
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