[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The game with a thousand faces

[Louis d'Ambra]

Mike Rozak wrote:

> Only a handful of MMORPGs, like Second Life, ATITD, Uru,
> etc. break the mold, and they don't seem to attract large
> audiences.

> Does this strike anyone else as being disturbing?

Have you heard the story of Linage ?

Wired article:

  http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/korea.html?pg=3

> Unsurprisingly, Lineage hasn't taken off in North America, partly
> because it's a game in which not everyone can be the boss.

You know that large audiences usually seek instant statisfaction in
every game they pick up. If the game is fundamentaly different &
original, the player must learn a new way to think in order to dive
and enjoy the game. It's an effort.

We are now used to live in an "instant world", where everything is
accessible now and here. I think people have lost the ability to
settle and take time to learn / discover something. Plus, we are
surrounded with more and more products (games, music, books...). We
can't give a chance to everything going out, that's too much time
wasted. That's why we seek more and more immediate pleasure.

Unfortunalty, the most played games out there are often those who
lack depth or the less originals. Counter-Strike is easy to start
with, but very poor compared to others MODs. Ogre Island won't
surprise anyone at all, but won't discourage new players (levels,
classes blablabla).

It is time for developpers of originals games with a lot of depth
(and thus, complexity), to learn that a poor but easy start with
instant pleasure is a good plus to sell it. Once the player spent
more than an hour on it, he *will* make the effort required to go
further. That's what i think.

--
"The good end happily, the bad unhappily - that is what fiction
means." Oscar Wilde
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