September 2001
- Strix: Object Persistence on Relational Backends Ling Lo
- Structured Social Play John Buehler
- Structured Social Play Tom Hubina
- Structured Social Play Christopher Allen
- Structured Social Play Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Structured Social Play Daniel Bendiksen
- Structured Social Play Tamzen Cannoy
- Structured Social Play Robin Lee Powell
- Structured Social Play Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Structured Social Play Travis Casey
- Structured Social Play Robin Lee Powell
- Structured Social Play Christopher Allen
- Structured Social Play Koster, Raph
- Structured Social Play Matthew D. Fuller
- Structured Social Play Bruce Mitchener
- Structured Social Play Takis Kalogiratos
- Structured Social Play shren
- Structured Social Play Daniel Bendiksen
- Structured Social Play shren
- Structured Social Play Matt Owen
- Structured Social Play Bruce Mitchener
- Structured Social Play Vincent Archer
- Structured Social Play shren
- Structured Social Play Daniel Bendiksen
- Structured Social Play Vincent Archer
- Structured Social Play John Buehler
- Structured Social Play Matt Mihaly
- Structured Social Play Marian Griffith
- Structured Social Play Travis Nixon
- NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Kylotan
- [BIZ] Billing systems Brian Hook
- [BIZ] Billing systems Matt Mihaly
- [BIZ] Billing systems Christopher Allen
- [BIZ] Billing systems Brian Hook
- [BIZ] Billing systems Christopher Allen
- [BIZ] Billing systems Kevin Littlejohn
- [BIZ] Billing systems Travis Nixon
- [BIZ] Billing systems Brian Hook
- [BIZ] Billing systems Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [BIZ] Billing systems Owen
- [BIZ] Billing systems Jussi 'Sulka' Haro
- [BIZ] Billing systems Peter Tyson
- Benchmarking MUDs Chris Gray
- Benchmarking MUDs Matt Mihaly
- Benchmarking MUDs Bruce Mitchener
- Benchmarking MUDs Lars Duening
- Benchmarking MUDs Adam Martin
- Benchmarking MUDs Robin Lee Powell
- Benchmarking MUDs Chris Gray
- Benchmarking MUDs Adam Martin
- Benchmarking MUDs Chris Gray
- Benchmarking MUDs Ian Collyer
- Benchmarking MUDs Chris Gray
- Benchmarking MUDs Adam Martin
- Benchmarking MUDs Jon Lambert
- Free Time != Advancement (was: Structured Social Play) Eli Stevens
- Random American Name Generator (!) Ling Lo
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Brian Hook
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Christopher Allen
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Derek Licciardi
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Sean K
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Ent ertainment announces World of Warcraft Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Updated my site Koster, Raph
- Vircom T4C Brian Hook
- Vircom T4C Valerio Santinelli
- Preference for host OS Brian Hook
- Preference for host OS Jon Leonard
- Preference for host OS Bruce Mitchener
- Preference for host OS brandon@roguetrader.com
- Preference for host OS J C Lawrence
- Preference for host OS Jeremy Noetzelman
- Preference for host OS Fred Clift
- Preference for host OS Travis Casey
- Preference for host OS J C Lawrence
- Preference for host OS Travis Casey
- Preference for host OS Sean K
- Preference for host OS Vincent Archer
- Preference for host OS Phillip Lenhardt
- Preference for host OS J C Lawrence
- Preference for host OS J C Lawrence
- Preference for host OS Brian Hook
- Preference for host OS Brian Tackett
- Preference for host OS Jon Lambert
- Preference for host OS David Loeser
- Preference for host OS Brian Hook
- TEC Distribuate engine &cost of band width Stéphane Garin
- TEC Distribuate engine &cost of band width plalande@born2play.org
- [MUD DEV] Text editors in MUDs [was Structured Social Play] Daniel Bendiksen
- [MUD DEV] Text editors in MUDs [was Structured Social Play] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- [MUD DEV] Text editors in MUDs [was Structured Social Play] Derek Licciardi
- [MUD DEV] Text editors in MUDs [was Structured Social Play] Adam Martin
- Casual vs. Hardcore gameplay Ian Collyer
- Casual vs. Hardcore gameplay Jon Lambert
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft Travis Nixon
- Higher barrier to entry? was NEWS: Blizzard En tertainment announces World of Warcraft Koster, Raph
- TECH: SEDA: An Architecture for Highly Concurrent Server Applications Bruce Mitchener
- Re:Play participants emails needed Marian Griffith
- [REALITY] [SOCIAL] ExistenZ Adam Martin
- [TECH] Mozilla as cross OS client for MUD/MMG ? Mathieu Castelli
- [TECH] Mozilla as cross OS client for MUD/MMG ? Chris Jones
- [TECH] Mozilla as cross OS client for MUD/MMG ? Par Winzell
- FW: [BIZ] Billing systems Dave Kennerly
- FW: Skotos TTT#44: The Global Community Christopher Allen
- [Fwd: Announce: New Mailing Lists Available] Bruce Mitchener
- BeQuest Michael Tresca
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Derek Licciardi
- Geometric content generation Koster, Raph
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Kwon Ekstrom
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Koster, Raph
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Koster, Raph
- Geometric content generation John Hopson
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Dave Rickey
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Dave Rickey
- Geometric content generation Vincent Archer
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Dave Rickey
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation J Aitken
- Geometric content generation Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Geometric content generation Sasha Hart
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation J Aitken
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
"Koster, Raph" wrote:
[the behaviour of rats are representative of humans]
> Well, if you believe the behavioral psych people, there is no
> difference, right? :)
If you believe a carefully selected subset of behaviourists,
maybe. Hmm, how to put this. Yes, behaviourist thinking can
probably be valuable for training people with braindamages, maybe
the only way. Does that mean that we should treat most people as if
they are braindamaged!? YES, the gamedesigners shout, we are
catering for the masses! :^)))
> Seriously, though--even if you do provide such a world, research
> seems to indicate that if there is no feedback mechanisms, people
> won't pursue the activities.
(this is my _opinion_, hypothesis to be tested if you will)
Oh, wait, no feedback is never good because then you don't know what
you are doing. However, they will pursue the activities if there is
no explicit reward IF that activity is _meaningful_ to them (or
compelling). The reward does not make the activity itself
meaningful though (unless it is strongly related to the activity).
However, sometimes you need a carrot to get people started, but when
they are IMMERSED into the subjectively MEANINGFUL activity then
they don't need the carrot anymore. If you have to PAY your players
to participate in activities, then there is bound to be something
boooring and unsatisfactory about those activities. People go
biking and skiing without getting paid, don't they? They also
ROLEACT without getting paid. Those activities are inherently
meaningful to those that participate in them. I believe that they
partially are so because the player himself can increase the level
of challenge and change the focus and variation, but partially also
because they have a very high potential for being "compelling" along
multiple dimension.
> Even the crudest simplest DikuMUD derivative offers more than just
> the hjunt for XP, yet many seem to prefer the shallow experience
> the game rewards over the richer experience that the game doesn't
> acknowledge.
People that play Dikus _expect_ the (braindead) RPG or at least a
run-of-the-mill game (not a _world_). I (and most people on this
planet) would never play a Diku/EQ/AO/whatever unless I get paid for
it. With one exception, I did play LegendMUD because I was
motivated to explore the system, the promise of interactive fiction
and traces of authorship (some cottage in the desert you had
designed was very interesting to me, it had so much inscribed
meaning because I know something about the author and I am somehow
affiliated with him through this group, interests in the same field
and so on). I was motivated by curiosity and expectations of
interactive fiction.
Take a look at the LegendMUD characters, and ask yourself, who of
the oldest active characters are xp-hunting, roleplaying, building,
socializing etc. I'd be surprised if the less autonomous, less
meaningful activities won.
I don't believe payment cause a rise in motivation, but rather a
perceived lack of outcome does reduce motivation. This does at least
seem to hold in the work environment.
> Seems to me that it's a good thing, making use of these tools in
> order to open the players' eyes to the complex world and
> unfulfilled need you cite.
Except that the worlds are not complex and does not provide the
tools to fulfil those needs :P. If they were you would not need to
PAY the players to participate.
And of course you know this. You want to have player-run vendors
and houses. You want some autonomy and player control. You want
players to define their activities in ways that are meaningful to
them, not necessarily the gaming system, right? Still, you realize
that you need to collect the money. Retaining players in a
non-complex world is achieved by streeeeeeeetch the content, by
polishing and relaunching, by making the world tedious, and by
paying them to play, and nurturing their desire to belong to at
least the middle-class (and making that a moving target). Hmm,
maybe someone should do a marxist analysis of MMORPGs.
I don't like this, I think the extreme end of this is _wrong_, I
also think it is wrong to addict people to soda pop by artificially
injecting coffein, or tweaking cigarettes to increase nicotine
addiction, putting alcohol in clear view at the entrance to make
sure that alcoholics don't miss it or what not. If people come out
at the other end of the system, feeling empty or bad, then that
system had no right to impose themselves on them. I wish I knew of
a study of this, but my unqualified GUESS is that quite a large
number of MUD players only play MUDs for a couple of months until
they are able to tear themselves away from the system to never
really play again. I also guess that this holds for a lot of hard
core EQ players, they have learned and felt that they do not have
the time to meet the requirements of the high level game play and
will shy away from games that will induce an artificial need to do
so. In a couple of years the majority of hard-core game players will
have burned off any novelty they might have experienced under this
gaming model due to the intensive requirements in existing
systems. So, then maybe designers will at least put in time-caps and
provide a rich world for casual gamePLAY (opposed to work). So far
MMOPRGs have been lucky, next to no competition, and novelty of the
genre (to most players).
Btw, I'm following a class on narratology in media-science, and I
believe there is something to be learned from that field (+
dramaturgy) about making things compelling with variation. Not sure
exactly what, but something.
As we all know, the expectations about the possibilities of the
future IS the most powerful aspect a designer can play up to. (is
that one of your laws?) Players do want to believe in the
possibility of a story, I believe. Possibilities is what makes a
world. The promises of a valid and meaningful future. The promised
land so to speak...
(I guess one could pull off an analogy to the suffering of the
jewish people here, but I will drop that one.)
--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/ - Geometric content generation Dave Rickey
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Dave Rickey
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Travis Nixon
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Eli Stevens
- Geometric Content Generation John Robert Arras
- Geometric Content Generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation rayzam
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Michael Tresca
- Geometric content generation Derek Licciardi
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Adam Martin
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Derek Licciardi
- Geometric content generation Robin Lee Powell
- Geometric content generation Kwon Ekstrom
- Geometric content generation Nathan F. Yospe
- Geometric content generation Travis Nixon
- Geometric content generation Nathan F. Yospe
- Geometric content generation Kwon Ekstrom
- Geometric content generation Travis Nixon
- Geometric content generation Nip
- Geometric content generation Jay Carlson
- Geometric content generation Kwon Ekstrom
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation J Todd Coleman
- Geometric content generation Peter Tyson
- Geometric content generation S. Patrick Gallaty
- Geometric content generation Eric Rhea
- Geometric content generation Paul Schwanz
- Geometric content generation Lee Sheldon
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Lee Sheldon
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Jon Lambert
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Eric Rhea
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Eric Rhea
- Geometric content generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Geometric content generation Koster, Raph
- Geometric content generation Brian Hook
- Geometric content generation Ian Collyer
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation Eli Stevens
- Geometric content generation Ian Collyer
- Geometric content generation John Buehler
- Geometric content generation gamaiun@yahoo.com
- Geometric content generation Derek Licciardi
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation Koster, Raph
- Geometric content generation Matt Mihaly
- Geometric content generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Geometric content generation Kwon Ekstrom
- [DSN]Geometric content generation[LONG] Derek Licciardi
- [DSN]Geometric content generation[LONG] Matt Mihaly
- LTM article Trump
- LTM article Travis Nixon
- LTM article J Todd Coleman
- LTM article Travis Nixon
- LTM article Matt Mihaly
- LTM article Sellers, Mike
- LTM article J Todd Coleman
- LTM article Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- LTM article Adam Martin
- LTM article Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- MMORPG Construction Kit Redux Lee Sheldon
- Request for ideas Eli Stevens
- Request for ideas J C Lawrence
- Request for ideas Jon Leonard
- Request for ideas Eli Stevens
- Request for ideas Timothy Dang
- Request for ideas Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Request for ideas Dickinson, Dallas
- Request for ideas Matt Mihaly
- Request for ideas Bruce Mitchener
- Request for ideas Adam Martin
- Request for ideas Jon Leonard
- Request for ideas Jon Leonard
- Request for ideas Vincent Archer
- Request for ideas Matt Mihaly
- Request for ideas holding99@mindspring.com
- Request for ideas Freeman, Jeff
- Request for ideas Robin Lee Powell
- Request for ideas Andrew Hefford {Coregen}
- Request for ideas Koster, Raph
- Request for ideas John Buehler
- Request for ideas Christopher Allen
- Request for ideas Chuk Radder
- Request for ideas Nicolai Hansen
- Request for ideas Ben Chambers
- Request for ideas Marian Griffith
- Request for ideas Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Request for ideas Ian Collyer
- Request for ideas Freeman, Jeff
- Request for ideas holding99@mindspring.com
- Request for ideas Patrick Dughi
- Request for ideas Christopher Allen
- Request for ideas Adam Martin
- Request for ideas Matt Mihaly
- Request for ideas Leland Hulbert II
- Request for ideas Travis Nixon
- Request for ideas Marian Griffith
- Request for ideas Ben Chambers
- Request for ideas Derek Licciardi
- Request for ideas John Buehler
- Spoofs Eli Stevens
- research in online games Manuel Oliveira
- research in online games Travis Nixon
- How Many Developers Does It take to Screw in a Lightbulb? [Poll] Lee Sheldon
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Bruce Mitchener
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Koster, Raph
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Vincent Archer
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Bruce Mitchener
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Robin Lee Powell
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) John Buehler
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Koster, Raph
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) John Buehler
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Bruce Mitchener
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric contentgeneration) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Travis Nixon
- in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Fwd: [CLIENT-DEV] Software Packages for MOO Bruce Mitchener
- Portable Class C Christopher Allen
- Portable Class C Vincent Archer
- [Meta] Portable Class C Dominic J. Eidson
- RP in EQ? Matt Mihaly
- AO Mess Vincent Archer
- Lum the Mad is closing Valerio Santinelli
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Marian Griffith
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Matt Mihaly
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Marian Griffith
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Matt Mihaly
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Marian Griffith
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Marc Bowden
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Jon Lambert
- Historic lessons on fluid identity John Buehler
- Historic lessons on fluid identity David Lindsey
- Historic lessons on fluid identity Matt Mihaly
- Lum the Mad is closing--sort of Koster, Raph