May 2000
- Interesting online game Brian Green
- Bayesian statistics Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Client Technology Jon Morrow
- Client Technology Todd McKimmey
- Client Technology Andrew Wilson
- Client Technology Ben Greear
- Client Technology Greg Munt
- Client Technology Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Client Technology Joel Dillon
- Advogato J C Lawrence
- tdbm etc. J C Lawrence
- text user interface Eli Stevens
- text user interface Chris Gray
- Legends of Kesmai, RIP Raph Koster
- Legends of Kesmai, RIP Clevmut@aol.com
- Medievia ads in PCGamer? Schubert, Damion
- Medievia ads in PCGamer? Rasdan
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) adam@treyarch.com
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) David Bennett
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) adam@treyarch.com
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) David Bennett
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) Chris Gray
- FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players) Chris Gray
- Addressing newbies Johan J Ingles-le Nobel
- Addressing newbies stoddart@slip.net
- Addressing newbies adam@treyarch.com
- Addressing newbies J C Lawrence
- Addressing newbies Chris Gray
- Addressing newbies Powell, Warren
- Addressing newbies adam@treyarch.com
- Addressing newbies Chris Lloyd
- Addressing newbies adam@treyarch.com
- Addressing newbies Chris Lloyd
- Addressing newbies adam@treyarch.com
- Addressing newbies Christopher Allen
- Addressing newbies J C Lawrence
- Addressing newbies J C Lawrence
- Addressing newbies Raph Koster
- Addressing newbies Christopher Allen
- Addressing newbies adam@treyarch.com
- Addressing newbies J C Lawrence
- Introduction Ian C. Smith
- constructive quests Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- new email address Travis Casey
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Par Winzell
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- [Meta] chest puffing (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- Critique: Realms of Despair adam@treyarch.com
- Critique: Realms of Despair David Bennett
- Critique: Realms of Despair Kevin Scott London
- Critique: Realms of Despair adam@treyarch.com
- Critique: Realms of Despair Andrew Ritchie
- Critique: Realms of Despair adam@treyarch.com
- Critique: Realms of Despair adam@treyarch.com
- Critique: Realms of Despair Marc Bowden
- Software combinations Ian C. Smith
- Software combinations David Bennett
- Software combinations Erik Jarvi
- Software combinations Ian C. Smith
- Software combinations Scatter
- Software combinations J C Lawrence
- Hobby Muds and Money Maarten van Leunen
- Hobby Muds and Money Mordengaard
- Mud Clients Mud Imp
- update on selling Godhoods Matthew Mihaly
- update on selling Godhoods Brian Green
- update on selling Godhoods Richard Woolcock
- update on selling Godhoods Matthew Mihaly
- update on selling Godhoods Jeremy Hovance
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG Raph Koster
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG Dan Shiovitz
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG Brian Green
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG Matthew Mihaly
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG AR Schleicher
At 07:26 PM 5/21/2000 +0000, Matthew Mihaly <the_logos@achaea.com> wrote:
>On Sun, 21 May 2000, Raph Koster wrote:
>
> > #1: Thou Shalt Not Require Vulnerability to Other Players.
> >
> > Consider the number of active EQ Subscribers (henceforth customers)
> > complaining that their server is too crowded. Now take a good look at how
> > many people are on the Player-Versus-Player (henceforth PvP) servers.
> > Either they are being hypocrites, or as a whole the customers do not
> want to
> > be vulnerable to harm from other players at all times. And yet I find it
> > curious that practically every upcoming MMORPG Ive looked into has
> > Mandatory PVP one (Atriarch) even goes so far as to have permanent
> PvP (if
> > the character dies, its time to start a new character). Others (UO2,
> Anarky
> > Online) skirt this by making some areas Non-PvP and yet it takes
> something
> > less than a rocket scientist to realize you wont be able to stay in the
> > safe areas all the time.
>
>I certainly hope that this customer isn't suggesting that every game that
>comes out work like this. Perhaps I (and many others) would like to play a
>game where PK vulnerability is required.
I think the idea he's getting at here is that while PK vulnerability can
exist, there should be at least some complete form of the game, that allows
invulnerability from PK, or as close to it as is possible. A version of
the game where you can go everywhere, and do everything, except have to
worry about PK issues. I don't think it's a bad idea, either...
> > #5: Thou Shalt Test Thy Product Before Thy Releaseth It or Any Part of It
> >
> > Should be assumed, and yet everybody but game manufacturers seems to know
> > better. Heres a clue if its your world, you bloody better well be
> > willing to sign your name to it. Now granted that the very nature of the
> > MMORPG genre is such that updates will be constant, and that any changes
> > that need to be made can be handled quickly. Nonetheless, there is NO
> EXCUSE
> > WHATSOEVER for a game to be out for a year before the people
> responsible for
> > it discover something along the lines of Wolf-form having the wrong
> faction.
> > There is an equivalent amount of excuse for quests that appear to have been
> > in the game from the beginning to still appear broken (which reminds me, I
> > havent checked Kinool Goldslinger since the last quest patch). A
> > recommendation? Absolutely NOTHING in the game should go Live until the
> > person most responsible PERSONALLY confirms it is working on a Test Server,
> > and this confirmation should be made the same way the player would be doing
> > it. The recent incident in which Abashi actually went into the game and
> made
> > sure the spells were dropping before he said this to customers (after weeks
> > of insisting they were dropping without doing so, unfortunately) is a
> start.
>
>This is a silly and naive commandment. I'm quite sure that Verant already
>tests stuff it puts in quite a bit. Further, this guy is essentially
>contradicting what he says later. He says "this confirmation should be
>made the same way the player would be doing it."
This is, I'm sure, based on how Verant test the alchemy tradeskill in
EQ. For months and months, they claimed it worked, but they did all their
testing using special clients / modes, within which it did work. For
players without these, it did not.
>Later on, he says he
>doesn't want to play games where there is only one way out of things (ie
>he wants problems that can be creatively solved, not puzzles in which
>there is only one way out). If this is what he wants, then there is no way
>to fulfill this commandment, as the designer can't know how the player
>would be doing it. In fact, flat-out, the designer cannot know how the
>players are going to do things.
Having problems that players can solve in a variety of ways is good. He
wants the designers to test it in at least one way a normal player could
test it. Testing in a mode players don't have access to, even though it
makes it easier, shouldn't be allowed if there is any chance what you are
testing will work only because you are in that mode, and would not work if
you weren't.
AR Schleicher (Jerrith)
ars@iag.net
Allison Rae Schleicher IV (AR)
ars@iag.net | ars@qualkids.com
http://www.iag.net/~ars
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG AR Schleicher
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG Mud Imp
- Ten Commandments for the next MMORPG The Inquisition Administrator
- Ten commandments for the next MMORPG David Wruck
- MudDev FAQ 2 Marian Griffith
- MudDev FAQ 2 Wes Connell
- The great myth of broadband Brian Green
- The great myth of broadband Madrona Tree
- The great myth of broadband Par Winzell
- The great myth of broadband John Bertoglio
- Effective use of the third dimension Richard Ross
- Effective use of the third dimension adam@treyarch.com
- Effective use of the third dimension Richard Tew
- Ten commandments for players of the next MMORPG Ananda Dawnsinger
- Free Speech Jeff Freeman
- Free Speech Ananda Dawnsinger
- Free Speech Par Winzell
- Free Speech Jeff Freeman
- Free Speech Jon A. Lambert
- Free Speech Schubert, Damion
- Free Speech Matthew Mihaly
- Free Speech Jessica Mulligan
- Free Speech Darren Henderson
- Free Speech kitkat@marcus.pants.nu
- Free Speech Gary Whitten
- Free Speech J C Lawrence
- Free Speech Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Free Speech Jeremy Hovance
- RPGPlanet article: The Evils of Character Progression Raph Koster
- More storytelling - And also game secrets Chris Lloyd
- Marketing text-based games (was: Ten Commandments for the next MMORPG) Andrew Ritchie
- java performance questions (fwd) J C Lawrence
- MUDs as art (was A footnote to Procedural Storytelling) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MUDs as art (was A footnote to Procedural Storytelling) Lee Sheldon
- MUDs as art (was A footnote to Procedural Storytelling) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Any hungry Java GUI programmers out there? Par Winzell
- Any hungry Java GUI programmers out there? Par Winzell
- Supporting multiple output formats Nolan Darilek
- The 10 basic rules of a good PvP system Raph Koster
- Player storytellers? Travis Nixon
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Thoughts about smarter Sims J C Lawrence
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Raph Koster
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Mordengaard
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Justin Rogers
- Thoughts about smarter Sims Jon A. Lambert
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Brian Green
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Zak Jarvis
- Advancement considered harmful (long) J C Lawrence
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Zak Jarvis
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Raph Koster
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Zak Jarvis
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Charles Hughes
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Zak Jarvis
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Dave Rickey
- Advancement considered harmful (long) J C Lawrence
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Travis Nixon
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Miroslav Silovic
- Advancement considered harmful (long) Batir
- What I want, what players want Andrew Ritchie
- What I want, what players want Chris Jacobson
- What I want, what players want Jeff Freeman
- What I want, what players want Nicolai Hansen
- What I want, what players want Darren Henderson
- What I want, what players want adam@treyarch.com
- Domain Names and Trademarks Jon Morrow
- Domain Names and Trademarks J C Lawrence
- Domain Names and Trademarks Sellers, Michael
- Narratology WAS: Self-Sufficient Worlds Zak Jarvis
- Narratology WAS: Self-Sufficient Worlds J C Lawrence
- Narratology WAS: Self-Sufficient Worlds Zak Jarvis
- Narratology WAS: Self-Sufficient Worlds Christopher Allen
- narratology WAS Self-Sufficient Worlds Angela Ferraiolo
- FW: Advancement considered harmful (long) John Buehler
- Narratology and its application to VR, multi-player games, and the like J C Lawrence
- FW: Advancement considered harmful (long) John Buehler
- coordinate systems Richard Tew
- coordinate systems Jon Leonard
- coordinate systems Kerem 'Waster_' HADIMLI