January 2009

• [Design] on the game mechanics of open questing Siege)
• • RANT: The Future of Quests Mike Rozak
  • • RANT: The Future of Quests Amanda Walker
    • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] cruise
      • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Amanda Walker
        • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Mike Sellers
        • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] John Buehler
        • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] cruise
          • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] John Buehler
          • Wikia MUD project Raph Koster
          • • Wikia MUD project Nabil Maynard
            • • Wikia MUD project Raph Koster
            • Wikia MUD project Peter Harkins
        • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Mike Oxford
        • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] cruise
          • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Damion Schubert
            • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Threshold
              • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] John Buehler
              • • Players are shallow [was: The Future of Quests] Mike Sellers
                  There have been a few really good posts on NPCs and such in MMOs. Damion,
                  you in particular wrote a couple of posts I wanted to respond to but just
                  haven't had the time.
                  
                  Here's the thing, as I see it. Damion is correct in that MMOs are (well,
                  have been thus far) largely combat simulators. Great genre, very popular.
                  But it's hardly the only way to envision or experience MMOs. And as a
                  genre, we may have just about mapped out its limits. Calling that the
                  extent of MMO gameplay is IMO a failure of imagination, and the kind of
                  thing that leads to design stultification and commercial "so whats" very
                  quickly.
                  
                  I suspect strongly that the more combat/achievement-oriented MMOs are, the
                  less need there is for active MMOs that are more than vending machines or
                  opponents-of-the-moment. OTOH, as MMOs become more social -- where "social"
                  goes far beyond chatting and guild drama -- they will attract many more
                  people (the majority of people playing games online who still have no desire
                  to play an MMO) and socially interactive NPCs will become far more
                  important. It may even be that having such NPCs is a gating factor to
                  creating virtual worlds that non-gamers and casual gamers find engaging.
                  
                  I see socially interactive NPCs as the scaffolding around which social
                  gameplay grows. These NPCs are the people, after all, who actually live in
                  the world -- we as players are just occasional visitors. If the NPCs are
                  able to shoulder the load of making the world feel like a social place (a
                  big "if" certainly), then they become an unparalleled support and an
                  attractant to new and returning players.
                  
                  Note that I'm not talking about variations on old (and IMO effective but
                  tired) quest constructions, "saving the village" etc. Those aren't
                  particularly social. They are, in effect, static, plot-driven gameplay.
                  I'm looking more at dynamic character-driven gameplay, where your stories as
                  a player intertwine with various NPCs' stories in ways that are meaningful
                  to you. It's a different way of seeing gameplay, particularly online
                  gameplay, but one that I think leads to the next levels of engagement for
                  wide audiences.
                  
                  Mike Sellers
    • RANT: The Future of Quests Mike Sellers
    • • RANT: The Future of Quests Damion Schubert
      • • RANT: The Future of Quests Mike Rozak
• [DESIGN] How big is enough? Ian Hess
• • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Mike Rozak
  • • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Mike Oxford
    • • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Vincent Archer
      • • [DESIGN] How big is enough? szii@sziisoft.com
  • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Siege)
  • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Threshold
  • [DESIGN] How big is enough? David Johansson
  • [DESIGN] How big is enough? Roger Durañona Vargas
• Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Tiago
• • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Jon Mayo
  • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Jeffrey Kesselman
  • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Chris White
  • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Mike Oxford
  • • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Tiago
    • • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Jeffrey Kesselman
      • • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Mike Oxford
        • • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Tiago
        • Persisting a MUD state with plain binary serialization Tiago.matias@gmail.com
• [DESIGN] Clojure? Matt Cruikshank
• • [DESIGN] Clojure? Richard Tew
  • • [DESIGN] Clojure? Matt Cruikshank