October 2000
- Interactive Fiction Competition 2000 Aaron Mitchell
- trade skill idea msew
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Koster, Raph" <rkoster@verant.com>
> > IMO, it's not the trade skill itself that's fun; it's what
> > you do with the product.
>
> Tell that to everyone who bought SimCity, The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon,
or
> any of the many other similar products. These don't even HAVE a product
> marketing phase after the building phase of the game. It's ONLY about the
> building. The desire to build is what crafting satisfies. You wouldn't say
> that "building areas isn't fun, it's only what you do with the area
> afterwards" would you?
No, I'd say "constructing individual buildings isn't fun; it's what you do
with the buildings that is."
The appeal of SimCity is not in the construction of individual buildings;
it's in the meta-construction: how you lay out those buildings/zones in
relation to each other and control economic and legal factors to encourage
their interaction and growth. Stamping out the same buildings over and over
with no rhyme or reason isn't fun. Crafting cities is.
I have no doubt that MMORPG trade skills can and will be made more complex,
more dependent on player skill, and more satisfying. But eventually, after
the thousandth skullcap has been expectorated, the process is pretty much
the same as it was the other 999 times. And at that point, it's what you do
with them that makes the whole thing fun.
Building, like just about anything else, only continues to be fun when it
requires some consideration and decision-making, and changes from instance
to instance. Imagine how empty high school shop classes would be if they
did nothing but make napkin holder after napkin holder, week in and week
out.
-Josh Olson - trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea msew
- trade skill idea Travis Casey
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Zak Jarvis
- trade skill idea John Buehler
- trade skill idea Dave Rickey
- trade skill idea Zak Jarvis
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Mordengaard
- trade skill idea Richard Tew
- trade skill idea Val Trullinger
- trade skill idea Phillip Lenhardt
- trade skill idea John Buehler
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea msew
- trade skill idea Wes Connell
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea Brad Wyble
- trade skill idea Vincent Archer
- trade skill idea Jeff Freeman
- trade skill idea Corey Crawford
- trade skill idea Yves K
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Tamzen Cannoy
- trade skill idea Robert Zubek
- trade skill idea Patrick Dughi
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- trade skill idea msew
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea Josh Olson
- trade skill idea Matthew Mihaly
- trade skill idea Koster, Raph
- trade skill idea msew
- trade skill idea Batir
- trade skill idea Arabis2000@aol.com
- Open Source 3D Interactive World Server Ian Macintosh
- Reactive keyboard J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #243 - 14 msgs Dr. Cat
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Madman Across the Water
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? sverre@munthe.net
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Jeff Freeman
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Matthew Mihaly
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Marc Bowden
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Zak Jarvis
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Madman Across the Water
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Vincent Archer
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Dave Rickey
- Banning Players for Off-Site Activities? Ananda Dawnsinger
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- Mud / Web Integeration Wes Connell
- Mud / Web Integeration Bruce
- Mud / Web Integeration Bruce
- Mud / Web Integeration KevinL
- Mud / Web Integeration msew
- Mud / Web Integeration msew
- Mud / Web Integeration Richard Tew
- Mud / Web Integeration Nathan F. Yospe
- Declaration of the Rights of Avatars sverre@munthe.net
- Declaration of the Rights of Avatars Matthew Mihaly
- Declaration of the Rights of Avatars Justin Rogers
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- Realistic travel times/virtual terrain Matthew Mihaly
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- Realistic travel times/virtual terrain Inq Admin
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- Fwd: absolute vs. relative coords Nathan F.Yospe
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- Opinions (even harsh) on Castle Marrach by Skotos? Christopher Allen
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- Opinions (even harsh) on Castle Marrach by Skotos? Frank Crowell
- Opinions (even harsh) on Castle Marrach by Skotos? Christopher Allen