December 2004
- A couple of Wired articles on open-source metaverse and WoW's catering to players Morris Cox
- Too cute Matt Mihaly
- Project Entropia sells the richest land online Zach Collins (Siege)
- ADMIN: We have returned, a bit. J C Lawrence
- Call for Gaming-Related Art and Fiction Sanvean
- MEDIA: MMOs: It's the Economy, Stupid J C Lawrence
- DESIGN: Spreadsheet about activity feedback Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Johan A
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Glen Rosenblatt
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Sporky McBeard
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Michael Hartman
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Koster, Raph
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Douglas Goodall
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Damion Schubert
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? ceo
Damion Schubert wrote:
>> Raph Koster wrote:
>>> My experience is that players whinge at anything that
>>> inconveniences them. :)
>>> A lot depends on which gameplay god you are worshipping. If you
>>> worship "easy in, easy out, quick to fun, fast feedback," which
>>> is certainly the deity du jour, then the above are anathema.
> director to make art that works in all light scenarios. Also,
> don't underestimate how much people hate the idea of being forced
> to carry torches - this is especially true if they are usually
> two-handed weapon wielders.
I think it ranks pretty close to "dieing of hunger every 20 minutes"
in the "RPG player irritation spectrum", no? :)
Which is silly, since there are plenty of ways to work-in needing
light without gimping the player, from increasing monster perception
radiuses to decreasing player radius (compensated for by
"night-time" skills and abilities) to making torches "automatically
in use until fight mode is entered, at which time the player
automatically drops the torch; player automatically retrieves torch
after combat".
The really annoying thing is how many games historically have made
"having the brains + co-ordination to chuck a torch to the ground
and draw sword" into a massively time-consuming or difficult action,
taking as long (or longer) than it takes someone to run at you from
30ft or more away. *that's* what really gets people's backs up, IME.
> Weather is more of a mixed bag. In most games, people love
> weather - it's a cheap and easy thing to do which makes you feel
> like you're part of a virtual world. Players like to see change
> in their virtual world, and changes which don't inconvenience them
> personally
IIRC Ultima7 sparked this off with (for the time) rather beautiful
atmospheric weather, with simple-yet-effective tricks such as cloud
shadows + dimming of the pallete for the few seconds that a cloud
was directly overhead. My memory's going rusty on this, but I've a
feeling there are some effects from U7 that still haven't made it
into many of the MMORPG's, which is tragic really, especially as
they were so effective.
(on a related note, some of the U7 graphics were better than some
(by now I think the minority, but not sure?) modern MMORPG's -
compare the tree graphics in a modern 3D game, using 5-10 planes of
transparent polys to the luscious hand-drawn trees of U7. Compare
the density of a modern so-called forest to ones in U7. I wonder how
long it will be before *everyone* is licensing those 3rd party
tree/forest generators...)
> a talented art director to make art that works in all light
> scenarios.
...seems an increasingly hard job all-round, these days :(.
Adam M - DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Miroslav Silovic
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? ceo
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Wayne Witzke
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Damion Schubert
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? ceo
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Michael Hartman
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Dana V. Baldwin
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? John Buehler
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Chris Richards
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Alistair Riddoch
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? John Buehler
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Michael Hartman
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? John Buehler
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? olag@ifi.uio.no
- DESIGN: Why do people like weather in MMORPGs? Michael Hartman
- UI scripting gone too far? Derek Licciardi
- UI scripting gone too far? Johan A
- UI scripting gone too far? Damion Schubert
- UI scripting gone too far? Koster, Raph
- MMO Quest: Why they're still lousy Damion Schubert
- MMO Quest: Why they're still lousy Derek Licciardi
- WoW's catering to players (was: A couple of Wired articles on open-source metaverse andWoW's catering to players) Ghilardi Filippo
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Lars Duening
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Richard A. Bartle
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Richard A. Bartle
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games cruise
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games David Johansson
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Richard A. Bartle
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Tom Hunter
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Freeman, Jeff
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Damion Schubert
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Julio Nobrega
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Matthew D. Fuller
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Zach Collins (Siege)
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Eric Random
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Matthew D. Fuller
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Artur Biesiadowski
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games ceo
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Johan A
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games ceo
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Lars Duening
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Johan A
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Lars Duening
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games ceo
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Zach Collins (Siege)
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games ceo
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games olag@ifi.uio.no
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Michael Hartman
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Edward Glowacki
- Metric vs. English System of Measurement in Games Jon A. Lambert
- MEDIA: Blizzard - Virtual Trade Tough Nut to Crack J C Lawrence