December 2003
- DGN - Method of controling NPC's. Tony Hoyt
- DGN - Method of controling NPC's. J C Lawrence
- DGN - Method of controling NPC's. Sean Middleditch
- DGN - Method of controling NPC's. Vincent Archer
- DGN - Method of controling NPC's. Sheela Caur'Lir
- First Everquest Server Closure? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- First Everquest Server Closure? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- First Everquest Server Closure? Vincent Archer
- Game Designer and Senior Engineer Positions Adam Carpenter
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Michael Tresca
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Zach Collins {Siege}
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Rayzam
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Otis Viles
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Michael Tresca
- Spike TV"s Video Game Awards Daniel Anderson
- R: DGN - Method of controling NPC's. Ghilardi Filippo
- MDC 2004 - Call for Speakers mdc-proposals@kanga.nu
- MDC 2004 - Call for Papers mdc-proposals@kanga.nu
- Current State of MMOG's? Chris
- Current State of MMOG's? Jason Murdick
- Current State of MMOG's? Chris
- Current State of MMOG's? Jason Murdick
- Current State of MMOG's? Jeff Crane
- Current State of MMOG's? Sheela Caur'Lir
- Current State of MMOG's? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Current State of MMOG's? Scott Jennings
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7 Chanur Silvarian
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Brent P. Newhall
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Ammon Lauritzen
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Nicolai Hansen
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death John Buehler
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Paul Schwanz
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death ghovs
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Chanur Silvarian
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death J C Lawrence
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death J C Lawrence
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Sheela Caur'Lir
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Ben Kirman
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Sean Middleditch
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Sheela Caur'Lir
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Jason Murdick
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Scott Jennings
From: "Sheela Caur'Lir" <dstgasey@webhiker.dk>
> To go off on another tangent - It always annoyed me that the GM's
> were used for customer support, even in larger MMOG's.
> They are Game Masters dangit, they should run events for the
> players, or help developer test new areas and so forth. They
> should be working a storyline and make the virtual world
> progress. Make someone else with CS flag over their heads do the
> support thing.
As a reference, Dark Age of Camelot currently has about 50 full-time
in-game Customer Service reps on staff. They do no "GM" work (and in
fact are called CSRs, not GMs).
It's a reasonable assumption that, at a bare understaffed minimum,
an additional 50 "GMs" would be required to meet the job you propose
(basically, human-driven gaming as opposed to the automated
variety). Ultima Online tried with many more volunteers and were
unable to meet the players' demand for event-driven content.
Basically, you're asking for a LOT of very creative people to be on
call, 24/7. That costs a lot of money, and, to be honest, there may
well just not be those people available to be hired with that
skillset - good pen and paper DMs are rare, too. And bringing humans
into the equation brings all sorts of new perils - when you have one
"GM" running the world, especially a PVP-oriented one, there will
constantly be those who say that not only is he doing it badly, he's
doing the game real damage by favoring the side the complainant
happens not to be on. (We get enough accusations of favoritism from
players with just machine-driven systems!)
I know some text MUDs are able to bring this to the table (and it's
what they use as their main selling point) but at the scale of
today's MMOs - well, if you can get it to work and work affordably,
be sure and let someone know so they can start printing money.
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- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death John Buehler
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Paul Schwanz
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death games@anthemion.org
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death John Arras
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Corpheous Andrakin
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Edward Glowacki
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Sean Kelly
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death Scion Altera
- Thought Experiment: Permanent MonsterDeath John Buehler
- Utopian World (Removing access to entertainment) Sheela Caur'Lir
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 8 Chanur Silvarian
- The Skaff Effect Michael Tresca
- The Skaff Effect Sheela Caur'Lir
- The Skaff Effect Ryan S. Dancey
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Chanur Silvarian
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Paul Schwanz
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Rayzam
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Tom "cro" Gordon
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Freeman, Jeff
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Paul Schwanz
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Sheela Caur'Lir
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9 Sheela Caur'Lir
- [ANNC] new list for technical discussion Bruce Mitchener
- The Mind's Eye Matt Mihaly
- [BUS] Browser-based games ceo
- Online gamer in China wins virtual theft suit David Durant
- Alternate Level Mechanics (was: ghost mode) Eli Stevens
- FW: Socialization in Online Games Christopher Allen
- Whimsy Patricia Pizer
- TECH Looking for light graphical clients Ian McDonald
- TECH Looking for light graphical clients Mats Lidstrom
- Simulated societies (Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- [BIZ] The Web's New Currency Michael Tresca
- [BIZ] The Web's New Currency Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- [BIZ] The Web's New Currency Chris Duesing