July 2000
- Scalable Network I/O in Linux J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players adam@treyarch.com
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Scatter
- curses and grief players Marc Bowden
- curses and grief players David Bennett
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players Marc Bowden
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players stoddart@slip.net
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Matthew Mihaly
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players jolson@micron.net
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Josh Olson
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Jon A. Lambert
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players Zak Jarvis
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Jon A. Lambert
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Malcolm Valentine
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Patrick Dughi
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- curses and grief players Travis Nixon
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- curses and grief players Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- curses and grief players Marc Bowden
- curses and grief players Matthew Mihaly
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Dave Rickey
- curses and grief players Jon A. Lambert
- curses and grief players John Buehler
- curses and grief players Nicholas Daley
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Val Trullinger
- curses and grief players David Bennett
- curses and grief players Timothy Dang
- curses and grief players KevinL
- curses and grief players Raph Koster
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players KevinL
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Nicholas Daley
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- curses and grief players KevinL
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Jon A. Lambert
- curses and grief players Marian Griffith
- curses and grief players J C Lawrence
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Jon A. Lambert
- curses and grief players Greg Miller
- curses and grief players Andy
- curses and grief players Timothy Dang
- Fantasy clichés (was: Acting casual about casual gamers) Brian Green
- Fantasy clichés (was: Acting casual about casualgamers) Raph Koster
- Fantasy cliché s (was: Acting casual about casualgamers) Travis Nixon
- Fantasy cliché s (was: Acting casual about casualgamers) Dave Rickey
- Fantasy clichés (was: Acting cas ual aboutcasualgamers) S. Patrick Gallaty
- Combat systems, the good the bad and the ugly Malcolm Valentine
- Combat systems, the good the bad and the ugly Travis Casey
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Tim Vernum
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Raph Koster
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Travis Casey
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing adam@treyarch.com
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Greg Miller
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Travis Casey
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Nameless Solforge
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Chris Turner
- "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing Christopher Allen
- Fantasy clichés Michael Tresca
- Fantasy clichés Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Fantasy clichés Zak Jarvis
- Online gaming conference Matthew Mihaly
- Online gaming conference J C Lawrence
- Online gaming conference Milne, Alistair
- A new combat system Dragat123@aol.com
- A new combat system Thinus Barnard
- A new combat system Ryan P.
- A new combat system Hess, Ian W {Ian}
- A new combat system Ryan P.
- A new combat system Russo, Joe
- A new combat system Ryan P.
- A new combat system Travis Casey
- A new combat system adam@treyarch.com
- A new combat system Travis Casey
- A new combat system J C Lawrence
- A new combat system Travis Casey
- A new combat system J C Lawrence
- A new combat system John Bertoglio
- A new combat system Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- A new combat system J C Lawrence
- A new combat system adam@treyarch.com
- A new combat system Ben
- Fantasy clich=?ISO-8859-1?B?6Q==?=s Ryan Schotte
- Fantasy clich s J C Lawrence
- Fantasy clich s Raph Koster
- Number Economy Michael Tresca
- Number Economy Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- Number Economy Matthew Mihaly
- Fantasy clich=?ISO-8859-1?B?6Q==?=s Ryan Schotte
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics S. Patrick Gallaty
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics John Bertoglio
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics Chris Jacobson
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics S. Patrick Gallaty
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics Matthew Mihaly
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics Raph Koster
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics Matthew Mihaly
- Corruption of the game, profit and ethics Greg Miller
- Why Socializers are our Comrades (long) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Why Socializers are our Comrades (long) Sam Axon
- Why Socializers are our Comrades (long) Raph Koster
- Harry Potter J C Lawrence
- Harry Potter John Bertoglio
- Harry Potter Todd McKimmey
- Harry Potter Todd McKimmey
- Harry Potter Raph Koster
- Harry Potter J C Lawrence
- Harry Potter Michael Tresca
- [Meta] Harry Potter David Bennett
- Fantasy clich=?ISO-8859-1?B?6Q==?=s (was: Acting casual about casualgamers) Ananda Dawnsinger
- MUDs, eBay Farmers in The Economist Daniel James
- Introduction System Nathan Clemons
- Introduction System Nathan Clemons
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System S. Patrick Gallaty
- Introduction System seanl@literati.org
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System adam@treyarch.com
- Introduction System Bruce
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System Eli Stevens
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System Bruce
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System Tim Vernum
- Introduction System Dan Merillat
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System razor
- Introduction System Travis Nixon
- Introduction System Travis Nixon
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System Dan Shiovitz
- Introduction System Ryan P.
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System adam@treyarch.com
- Introduction System Colin Coghill
- Introduction System birgit.schulte@philips.com
- Introduction System J C Lawrence
- Introduction System birgit.schulte@philips.com
- Introduction System Michael Hohensee
- Introduction System Chris Turner
- Introduction System Eli Stevens
- Introduction System Mordengaard
- Introduction System Jon A. Lambert
- Introduction System Jon Callas
- curses and grief players - dark ages game solutions S. Patrick Gallaty
- Fantasy clichés (was: Acting casual aboutcasualgamers) adam@treyarch.com
- Getting stuck (was Fantasy clichés) Greg Miller
- Getting stuck (was Fantasy clichés) Travis Casey
- Getting stuck (was Fantasy clichés) Greg Miller
- Getting stuck (was Fantasy clichés) Travis Casey
- ADMIN: SQL troubles appear to be over. J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev request rejected Patrick Dughi
- Spherical World Design Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- Spherical World Design Michelle Thompson
- Spherical World Design Jon A. Lambert
- Spherical World Design J C Lawrence
- Spherical World Design Jon A. Lambert
- Spherical World Design Christopher Allen
- Spherical World Design Patrick Dughi
- Modelling combat Vladimir Prelovac
- Modelling combat Travis Casey
- Modelling combat adam@treyarch.com
- Modelling combat Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Modelling combat J C Lawrence
- Modelling combat Travis Casey
- Modelling combat adam@treyarch.com
- Modelling combat adam@treyarch.com
- Modelling combat John Bertoglio
- Modelling combat Vladimir Prelovac
- Modelling combat Travis Casey
- Modelling combat Greg Miller
- Modelling combat Travis Casey
- Modelling combat Greg Miller
- Modelling combat Chris Gray
- Modelling combat Jon A. Lambert
- Modelling combat Travis Casey
- Modelling combat jolson@micron.net
- ScryMUD 2.1.1 released. Ben Greear
- Identity and Ethics briefly touched on in Washington Post Raph Koster
- Interesting expansion on Bartle's Four Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Mud Imp
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Tamzen Cannoy
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Tamzen Cannoy
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs John Buehler
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Matthew Mihaly
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs John Buehler
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Hess, Ian W {Ian}
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs jolson@micron.net
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Marc Bowden
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Patrick Dughi
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Jon A. Lambert
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Marian Griffith
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Marian Griffith
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Tamzen Cannoy
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Travis Casey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Travis Casey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Colin Coghill
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Matthew Mihaly
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs KevinL
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Travis Nixon
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Travis Casey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Travis Casey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs KevinL
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Chris Turner
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
Seemed like it might be of relevance... if not, what the hey. :) This is the
address I was supposed to give at the opening of last year's Online Games
conference in London (the one SMi runs). I didn't make it over there because
I had to cancel at the last minute, so never got to deliver it. It's out of
date now, but relates to the current thread. I've had it archived on my
website but never really told anyone it was there...
start quote--->
Current and future developments in online games
So everybody is into online games these days.
Most of the major developers in boxed computer games have dabbled in the
field or are announcing their first tentative steps (or more frequently,
their first grandiose plans). Most of these people have no idea what they
are doing. But they sure are throwing money at the problem.
The "old guard," those folks who have been in the online games industry for
years if not decades, are watching closely, wondering how it is that mere
money thrown at the problem is getting these clueless companies the profits
and prominence that seem to have eluded the pioneers.
These two groups often don't talk to one another. They often don't get
along. The newcomers think the old guard has no production values and no
sense of the mass market. The old guard thinks that the newcomers have no
sense of what it takes to run a service.
Both parties are correct.
This is an opening address, and so I will frame it in the manner of a
challenge to all parties concerned: online games have been on the verge of
fulfilling their promise for so long now that everyone is getting tired of
waiting. If they are to break further into the mass market, as we all agree
they have wonderful potential of doing, people need to look both to the old
guard for the reasons why players keep coming back, and to the new guard to
topple some sacred cows.
What makes a game successful?
Over the long haul, there's only one thing that makes online games
successful. Websites call it "stickiness." We call it retention. It still
boils down to providing an experience that players wish to return to time
and time again. The reason for doing this is, of course, to charge them
money for it. We have to design our games to make players want to keep
paying, and keep coming back, at minimum cost to us the service provider.
This is one of those things so obvious on the face of it that people tend to
miss the point.
In a subscription-based model, the ideal online game is one where the player
keeps paying to never log on. This is rather antithetical to our design
sensibilities, I suspect-a game that nobody wants to play, that they just
want to hang around?
In a session-based model-well, personally I don't know that there are any
good session-based models. A session-based model means you need them to log
in to play. You have to count on players to take initiative. Most players
have trouble remembering to watch their favorite TV show. If you want to
trust players to reliably do something that is not woven into their daily
lives and that they have to pay for on top of that, well, they probably
won't. You also won't be able to easily tell why they didn't show up again,
because there is no opportunity for exit interviews (how do you say goodbye
to someone who just never showed up? In contrast, it is easy to say goodbye
to someone signing off).
I don't know very much about session-based models except that they aren't
something that interests me very much as a designer, so I won't dwell
further on that. I am sure that there are some of you out there who are
shaking your heads in dismay at how naïve I am about it anyway.
So retention is a key factor. But it's not the only factor. You have to get
them in the door too. And frankly, this is one place where the old guard
fell completely on their faces. It's not entirely their fault-the industry
was not mature enough to support the expenditure of massive amounts of money
on making games attractive. So the dedicated online game companies didn't do
it. But it was completely predictable that someone from outside would come
in and spend that money and usurp the industry away from those who knew it
best.
Ultima Online, a product I was fortunate enough to be the lead designer on
for four years, has now had almost 400,000 people buy the box and log in. It
has over 130,000 people currently paying ten US dollars a month to play. It
sold a frankly frightening amount of "charter editions" at $100 dollars a
box via direct sales, which cost us almost nothing to sell and make. It has
approximately 40 man-years worth of 16-bit artwork in it. Sierra's The Realm
had the caliber of artwork, but no marketing. Archetype and later 3DO's
Meridian 59 had the game design, but not the artwork. UO got lucky-it was in
the right place at the right time and had the marketing muscle, the brand
name, the presentation, and enough accessible gameplay functional at launch
to grab the brass ring.
I don't think it is bragging to say that UO has redefined online gaming-the
evidence is not just in the numbers-it's in the fact that every major online
game endeavor forthcoming is using the same model that UO did. One of the
tips always given to budding generals is to choose your battles-if you don't
like the one you are in, redefine the battlefield. UO redefined the
battlefield, and now online gaming is, fundamentally, a different place.
Anyone who is not willing to play at that level is not going to be able to
compete.
This is not to say that UO did it right. After all, everyone's favorite
pastime in this industry is bashing what it did wrong. And all of those
people are correct. There are still more brass rings to be grabbed.
Ensuring maximum retention of playerbase
Ultima Online has an average retention time of many months. Meaning that the
average player who buys the game plays for at least that long. A sizable,
well over double-digit percentage of our playerbase has been with us
continuously since the day the product launched.
This sort of thing is nothing new to those of you who have been running
online games for a while. But analysis of what actually makes these numbers
happen is generally lacking. Online game design has gone through relatively
little evolution in its 30-year history (dating here from the earliest games
on PLATO). And some of the evolutionary paths are plainly visible to those
who care to look.
Everyone knows that the game is about other people, right? That's often
presented as the Great Secret, the Holy Grail of Online Knowledge.
Well, it's wrong. In part, anyway. The fact is that other people are
something fairly cheap. The trick is other people that your people care
about. Other people in the same place as your people. Other people who
aren't going to leave.
It's very easy for a group of friends to persist beyond a given environment.
We've all seen it happen. In online games in particular, we've seen the
clans and guilds and tribes or what-have-you move wholesale from one game to
another. Friendships always migrate out of the game. If you rely on other
people to keep folks in your game-you're gonna lose. This is why the parlor
game sites have virtually no customer loyalty and are casual in more ways
than one. There's no emotional investment there-and if there is, it's all
too easy to drop that friend an email and interact with them without having
to sign up for yet another tedious game of hearts.
The game should give ownership
I'll tell you the Holy Grail of Online Knowledge: give them things they
can't take with them somewhere else. People they can't take with them.
Identity they can't take with them. A cool avatar is not enough-every
competitor is going to offer that too. A level is not enough-they won it,
they can brag about it forever after. Friends are not enough-the whole gang
will migrate to another game, with guild names and titles intact. Give them
something they can't take with them, something they must work to maintain,
something they prize so much they can never give it up. There's lots of ways
to do this, and generally speaking, traditional online games, especially the
"casual" ones, have been fairly bad at it.
The game shouldn't end
The psychologist Bruno Bettelheim liked to talk about "games" and "play." If
you only offer a game that is about "game" you're not going to fulfill the
promise of online gaming. But if you offer a game that is only about "play"
then you aren't really going to offer solid goals. You have to marry the
two.
If your online game has a STOP sign posted at the end of its experience,
you're making a fundamental mistake. But every game derived from MUD seems
to make this mistake over and over again. It's trivially easy to examine the
life-cycle of those games and see the point at which the bulk of ongoing
development shifted from being about the new user and became about the
maxxed-out player. It's easy to find the stories about the guy who "ran out
of things to do" and turned towards savaging his fellow players in pointless
retaliation against boredom.
There's plenty of tactics here. I've got ideas, and I'm sure you've got
ideas. And this address isn't about answers: it's about challenges. So here
is my challenge: make your games ones where your advancement ladders are
infinite rather than finite. Be it via king of the hill, player-driven
content, redirecting players to socially-oriented advancement ladders, or
what-have you-just do it.
The game should give things to argue about
Lastly-we spend so much time trying to make our games safe environments. And
we know, their reputation as hardcore, niche pursuits chases away many
potential customers every day.
But the fact is that people seek entertainment in large part to be touched
emotionally. If the experience does not touch them emotionally, they will
not stick around for a repeat showing. They will not seek it out again, they
will not recommend it to friends. It may be a pleasant brief diversion, but
it's not something they will want to experience over and over again.
All those silly scandals about chat room moderators trading netsex for
favors, about playerkillers causing demonstrations in some poor MUD's inn,
about schisms among guilds leading to massive anger-these are emotional
engagement, people. These are people being passionate about some bits and
bytes we have on a server! This is magic.
For the love of God, we need to stop sanitizing the emotion out of online
games. We need to be willing to make people feel strong emotions about them.
Yes, even hate. We all know about the games we love to hate-let me tell you,
there's something oddly satisfying about running a game people pay to hate.
Marketing online content
The thing that should be evident about this is that we're providing an
experience. In the past I've made the statement, "It's a SERVICE. Not a
game. It's a WORLD. Not a game. It's a COMMUNITY. Not a game. Anyone who
says, 'it's just a game' is missing the point."
Recently everyone has been applauding the brilliant marketing campaign
behind The Blair Witch Project. I don't know if that film has made it over
here to England yet, but in a nutshell, this is a trifle of a film that
purported to be videotape made by three college students who became lost in
the woods and met a dreadful fate. The film was supposedly found years later
accidentally.
The genius of the marketing was that everything was contextualized. There
was a documentary that went with it. It treated the events in the film as
real. There was a website. It also treated the events as real. The film
itself was in a cinema verité style.
In other words, Blair Witch was not a movie. It was an experience.
Jonathan Baron (formerly of Kesmai, now at Origin) has this wonderful bit
about online game taglines. Are you with us?, which is UO's tagline, he
says, means that we get it. And EverQuest's tagline, You're in our world
now, shows that they don't understand what online games are about-empowering
the player. Wish I could say that it hurt EQ any, but it hasn't-they are
doing fantastically. Fortunately for me, they haven't hurt UO any at all!
Either way, though, the key is that both are offering an experience. If you
offer just a game, why will anyone care?
Technical opportunities and restrictions
Obviously, we can't do everything. We can't give everyone what they want.
But I think that thinking in a box about the sorts of technology that can be
applied to online games has been limiting our thinking as to the potential
they offer. There was a massive resistance to giving up on text-only games,
for example. Now, I started on text-only games, as I imagine everyone here
did. I love them. They give unparalleled freedom of imagination. They can
provide unsurpassed eloquence and elegance of experience. They are a direct
plug into the brain!
But folks, Johnny can't read. Certainly not Johnny the console player. Not
the Johnny I run into daily at work, the fourteen-year-old who thinks that
the latest expression of hip-hop gangsta rap rage is just the coolest thing
going down. I find it wonderful that there are muds out there that I can go
to that give me areas based on Foucault. But Johnny doesn't care. And I am
in this to make money, after all. (Crass, I know).
We need to think a little more creatively about the technical opportunities
we can make use of. How can we make things more compelling? The answer
everyone has right now is voice technology. Now, I don't know if we can
afford to do voice technology. I don't particularly care either-the fact
that it is everyone's answer means it's not mine. I'm not saying what my
answer is, but I do know that I don't want to design where the herd is
going. I want to find ways to use interesting technology-perhaps not even
cutting-edge technology, just, well, snubbed technology-to make an
experience that is emotionally captivating.
And yes, that may mean a text game at some time in the future, too. Just not
right now.
Future developments in content, technology, and consumers
The simple fact is that our consumers are not who they were five years ago.
They are different now. Where they were once online gamers, a discrete
market, they are now the standard gamer market, weaned on Doom and bred on
Quake, blissfully unaware of antiquities such as BBS door games, the year in
which MUD II launched, and Modem Wars. In few more years, the market is
going to be someone quite different from that. Someone who doesn't
necessarily care about flashy 3d graphics, but who certainly isn't going to
sit still to read quickly spamming text. Someone who isn't into blowing up
bizarre alien creatures or slaying innumerable orcs and dragons.
The consumers that are the future of our genre are everyday, ordinary
people. Most of us in this technology-mad industry frankly have no contact
with them. The technology we need to develop isn't the technology of more
polygons or better 3d sound or more accurate simulations. It's the
technology of people. Of giving them what they don't know they need.
I spent last Christmas holidays in Ohio, with my father's side of the
family. An architect, a teacher of disabled children, an ex-firefighter who
now sells bathtub linings. They had many questions for me-they wanted to
know if I was proud of what I did, and how I felt about videogames allegedly
driving disturbed youths to acts of insane violence.
And boy, I longed to make a game for them. Because I knew that I could get
them interested in an online game that personally touched them, that made
them have a greater awareness of the world around them (for in my
technologically savvy big city mind, I suspect I saw them as provincial in
some ways. I don't feel too proud of myself for feeling that way, either).
An online game that connected them with people they wouldn't have otherwise
interacted with. That maybe didn't have a single dragon or spaceship in it.
A game-let's be frank-an Internet-that is woven into the fabric of their
lives. I know it can be done, and I also know that it's not online
backgammon.
So this is my challenge. The new guard, the boxed game companies, and the
old guard, the online game diehards, may both miss the boat. That's OK,
because someone else will see the obvious and rush in to capture the
audience that is waiting. But I know where I want to go: I want to go
towards experiences that are emotionally resonant to the widest range of
people possible, because in some kooky, idealistic way, I'd like my work to
touch people.
I want to make online games for the same reason that people want to keep
playing them: to touch people, to find new things to conquer, and to leave a
mark on the world. I want to make games people argue about, that make them
discuss philosophy or art or culture. And I bet that's what the future
brings us: online games that matter. If someone asked me what it was that
made people play UO, that's what I'd answer: because it matters to them. And
that's my challenge to all of you: to find some way to make this medium
matter, so that it gets the audience that it deserves: my cousins in Ohio
and everyone else. There's a bottom-line reason to do it-it's a large
market-but there's also the reason that we are likely in this industry
making this kind of game-which is hard, damn hard-because we love them. And
we want others to love them too.
Thank you.
<---end quote
-Raph - Code Repository Kyndig
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #164 - 12 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #164 - 12 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #164 - 12 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #164 - 12 msgs Raph Koster
- Mud-Dev FAQ 1 Marian Griffith
- Mud-dev FAQ 1 Marian Griffith
- Mud-Dev FAQ 2 Marian Griffith
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs John Buehler
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Matthew Mihaly
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs John Buehler
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Tamzen Cannoy
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #165 - 14 msgs Greg Miller
- [Meta] MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs J C Lawrence
- [Meta] MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- [Meta] MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Matthew Mihaly
- [Meta] MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- fantasy cliches Travis Casey
- fantasy cliches J C Lawrence
- grief players S. Patrick Gallaty
- Combat Systems Ben
- Combat Systems Patrick Dughi
- Combat Systems J C Lawrence
- Combat Systems Ben
- Combat Systems adam@treyarch.com
- Combat Systems Ben
- Combat Systems adam@treyarch.com
- Combat Systems Phillip Lenhardt
- Combat Systems adam@treyarch.com
- Combat Systems KevinL
- Combat Systems Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Combat Systems Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- threading server models (was: Combat Systems) Bruce
- eXistenZ WAS -- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Zak Jarvis
- eXistenZ WAS -- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- eXistenZ WAS -- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs Raph Koster
- Battlenet Hack Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- eXistenZ Zak Jarvis
- eXistenZ Dave Rickey
- Sustainable Ecosystem Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Sustainable Ecosystem J C Lawrence
- Sustainable Ecosystem S. Patrick Gallaty
- Sustainable Ecosystem Timothy Dang
- Sustainable Ecosystem Greg Miller
- Sustainable Ecosystem Michael Tresca
- Sustainable Ecosystem Mordengaard
- Sustainable Ecosystem jolson@micron.net
- Sustainable Ecosystem adam@treyarch.com
- Sustainable Ecosystem Raph Koster
- Sustainable Ecosystem Dave Rickey
- Sustainable Ecosystem Raph Koster
- Sustainable Ecosystem Mordengaard
- Sustainable Ecosystem Matthew D. Fuller
- Sustainable Ecosystem quzah@kanga.nu
- Sustainable Ecosystem Josh Olson
- Sustainable Ecosystem Timothy Dang
- Sustainable Ecosystem Andy
- Sustainable Ecosystem Patrick Dughi
- Sustainable Ecosystem Timothy Dang
- Sustainable Ecosystem ERI
- Sustainable Ecosystem Jon A. Lambert
- Sustainable Ecosystem Patrick Dughi
- Sustainable Ecosystem jolson@micron.net
- Sustainable Ecosystem Nathan Clemons
- Sustainable Ecosystem holding99@mindspring.com
- Sustainable Ecosystem Raph Koster
- My favorite game systems, what are yours? S. Patrick Gallaty
- My favorite game systems, what are yours? Marc Bowden
- Thread models and Linux J C Lawrence
- eXistenZ Zak Jarvis
- Player skill Tess Lowe
- Player vs. Character Skills Ananda Dawnsinger
- Command Qeues - Was "Combat Systems" Ben
- Command Qeues - Was "Combat Systems" Eli Stevens
- Roleplaying in Muds Ben
- Roleplaying in Muds Colin Coghill
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds Malcolm Valentine
- Roleplaying in Muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Roleplaying in Muds Matthew Mihaly
- Roleplaying in Muds Ben
- Roleplaying in Muds Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Roleplaying in Muds J C Lawrence
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds J C Lawrence
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds Dave Rickey
- Roleplaying in Muds Raph Koster
- Roleplaying in Muds Peter
- Roleplaying in Muds Phillip Lenhardt
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds J C Lawrence
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Roleplaying in Muds Patrick Dughi
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds J C Lawrence
- Roleplaying in Muds Ben
- Roleplaying in Muds Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Roleplaying in Muds Erik Jarvi
- Roleplaying in Muds Josh Anderson
- Roleplaying in Muds rayzam
- Roleplaying in Muds Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Roleplaying in Muds Erik Jarvi
- Roleplaying in Muds Josh Anderson
- Roleplaying in Muds Malcolm Valentine
- Roleplaying in Muds Miroslav Silovic
- Roleplaying in Muds Josh Anderson
- Roleplaying in Muds Patrick Dughi
- Roleplaying in Muds Miroslav Silovic
- Roleplaying in Muds Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Roleplaying in Muds Travis Casey
- Roleplaying in Muds Jeremy Noetzelman
- Classless systems Ryan P.
- Classless systems J C Lawrence
- Classless systems Ben
- Classless systems Ben
- Classless systems Christopher Allen
- Classless systems J C Lawrence
- Classless systems David Bennett
- Classless systems J C Lawrence
- Classless systems adam@treyarch.com
- Classless systems Val Trullinger
- Classless systems Ling Lo
- Classless systems David Bennett
- Classless systems Steve Houchard
- Classless systems David Bennett
- Classless systems Steve Houchard
- Classless systems Mordengaard
- Classless systems Gabriel
- Classless systems Travis Casey
- Classless systems Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Classless systems Val Trullinger
- eXistenZ Richard Tew
- Scaling a world. Saereth2000@aol.com
- Scaling a world. Bruce
- Scaling a world. Patrick Dughi
- Scaling a world. Nat Blundell
- Scaling a world. Patrick Dughi
- Scaling a world. David Bennett
- AutoClass Ling Lo
- AutoClass Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Required EXP algorithms Ben
- Required EXP algorithms Travis Casey
- Questing Systems Ben
- Questing Systems Chris Gray
- Questing Systems Nathan Clemons
- Questing Systems Mordengaard
- Questing Systems Travis Casey
- Questing Systems John Hopson
- Questing Systems Raph Koster
- Questing Systems Kristen L. Koster
- Questing Systems Todd McKimmey
- Questing Systems Malcolm Valentine
- Questing Systems Malcolm Tester
- Thoughts on Classless systems Travis Casey
- Thoughts on Classless systems Greg Miller
- Thoughts on Classless systems Josh Anderson
- Thoughts on Classless systems Ben
- Thoughts on Classless systems Ryan P.
- Thoughts on Classless systems Raph Koster
- Thoughts on Classless systems David Bennett
- Thoughts on Classless systems Koster, Raph
- Thoughts on Classless systems Malcolm Valentine
- Basic principles of reinforcement for muds John Hopson
- Basic principles of reinforcement for muds Matthew Mihaly
- Basic principles of reinforcement for muds Tess Lowe
- Basic principles of reinforcement for muds Dave Rickey
- Realism and NPCs Ben
- Realism and NPCs Travis Casey
- Realism and NPCs Christopher Allen
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Ben
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Travis Casey
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Raph Koster
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Patrick Dughi
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Raph Koster
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Patrick Dughi
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Gabriel
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Koster, Raph
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Malcolm Valentine
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Mordengaard
- Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game? Malcolm Valentine
- [rpg-create] Martial arts rules (fwd) J C Lawrence
- SQL and Muds Jeremy Noetzelman
- SQL and Muds J C Lawrence
- SQL and Muds Nathan Clemons
- [rpg-create] Maneuvers (fwd) J C Lawrence
- Memory, the Brain, and Dogma rayzam
- emlenmud Josh Rollyson
- emlenmud Greg Miller
- How to Hurt the Hackers: The Scoop on Internet Cheating and How You Can Combat It by Matt Pritchard J C Lawrence
- How to Hurt the Hackers: The Scoop on Internet Cheating and How You Can Combat It by Matt Pritchard Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- How to Hurt the Hackers: The Scoop on Internet Cheating and How You Can Combat It by Matt Pritchard Greg Underwood
- How to Hurt the Hackers: The Scoop on Internet Cheating and How You Can Combat It by Matt Pritchard Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Getting info from NPCs Dmitri Zagidulin
- Getting info from NPCs Josh Anderson
- Getting info from NPCs Patrick Dughi
- Getting info from NPCs Warren Powell
- Getting info from NPCs Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Getting info from NPCs Travis Casey
- Getting info from NPCs Lazarus
- Skill defaulting Ryan "BC|Uller" Myers
- Skill defaulting rayzam
- Skill defaulting Mordengaard
- Skill defaulting Ryan "BC|Uller" Myers
- Skill defaulting Marian Griffith
- Skill defaulting rayzam
- Roleplaying vs Immersion Miroslav Silovic
- Roleplaying vs Immersion Erik Jarvi
- Roleplaying vs Immersion Miroslav Silovic
- Roleplaying vs Immersion Matthew Mihaly
- Roleplaying vs Immersion Miroslav Silovic
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Bruce
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Greg Underwood
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Bruce
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA J C Lawrence
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA KevinL
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Patrick Dughi
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA KevinL
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Bruce
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA Greg Underwood
- On Lockless Threading and X/Open XA J C Lawrence
- WorldForge Acorn demo 0.1 alpha released Alistair Riddoch
- Threading Models and Command Queues Ben
- Medievia advertises in Dragon magazine Charles Hughes
- MUD Wimping Michael Tresca
- MUD Wimping Dan Shiovitz
- MUD Wimping Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Wimping Michael Tresca
- MUD Wimping adam@treyarch.com
- MUD Wimping Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Wimping Raph Koster
- MUD Wimping adam@treyarch.com
- MUD Wimping Patrick Dughi
- MUD Wimping Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Wimping J C Lawrence
- MUD Wimping Lazarus
- MUD Wimping adam@treyarch.com
- MUD Wimping KevinL
- MUD Wimping Chris Turner
- MUD Wimping Koster, Raph
- MUD Wimping J C Lawrence
- MUD Wimping Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Wimping Matt Chatterley
- MUD Wimping Raph Koster
- MUD Wimping stoddart@slip.net
- Article: Constructive Politics in a MMORPGs (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- Permadeath (was: Balance... RPG or Role-Playing Game?) Eli Stevens
- The Player Wimping Guidebook J C Lawrence
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Nathan Clemons
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook ROBERT MCCAULEY
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Val Trullinger
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Jeremy Noetzelman
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook adam@treyarch.com
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Malcolm Tester
- The Player Wimping Guidebook J C Lawrence
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook rayzam
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Raph Koster
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook J C Lawrence
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matt Chatterley
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Patrick Dughi
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Brian Vrolyk
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Warren Powell
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Marc Bowden
- The Player Wimping Guidebook rayzam
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Greg Underwood
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Greg Underwood
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Jerry Hill
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matt Chatterley
- The Player Wimping Guidebook rayzam
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Raph Koster
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Michael Tresca
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Nathan Clemons
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matt Chatterley
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Raph Koster
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Zak Jarvis
- The Player Wimping Guidebook J C Lawrence
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Steven Wallace
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph
- The Player Wimping Guidebook adam@treyarch.com
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph
- The Player Wimping Guidebook adam@treyarch.com
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Raph Koster
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matthew Mihaly
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph
- The Player Wimping Guidebook adam@treyarch.com
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Raph Koster
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Matt Chatterley
- The Player Wimping Guidebook Koster, Raph