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
- Thought Experiment: Permanent Monster Death games@anthemion.org
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Original message: http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2003Q4/msg00396.php
On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:44:40 -0800
"Scott Jennings" <scottj@mythicentertainment.com> wrote:
> 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.
> 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.
I almost agree with your conclusion, but I think your reasoning is a
bit off. Specifically, it is not just a question of cost, since
consumers will obviously pay more if they perceive an increase in
value. The problem with GM involvement is one of efficiency.
You suggested that 50 GMs would be needed, and that their skills
would be relatively expensive; let's assume that salary, payroll
taxes, and miscellaneous costs would amount to $100,000 per year per
GM. That's $5,000,000 per annum. Let's assume also that your game
has 'only' 100,000 players. The per player cost for GM content would
thus come to $4.17 a month. This sounds (relative to a $10 or $15
subscription fee) like a lot of money, but is it? As I've argued
elsewhere (http://www.anthemion.org/PlayTimeExcerpt.doc), the real
cost of MMORPG play is not the subscription fee, but the opportunity
cost of the player's time. What is four dollars compared with 80
hours of play time? So I think the cost of your 50 GMs would be
fairly trivial. But what would players actually get for their four
dollars?
What we normally think of as content (i.e., aesthetic, play, and
technical content) is non-rivalrous; a single unit can be shared by
many players without lessening its utility to any of them. Thus, a
unit of content investment by the developer results in a unit of
content enjoyment for many thousands of players. This is a
phenomenally efficient use of developer resources (and indirectly,
player fees). While GM participation can also be considered a form
of game content, it is rivalrous content, or " at best " imperfectly
non-rivalrous content. Consider: how many players can meaningfully
interact with a GM at the same time? Ten? One hundred? This is the
real problem with GM content. Though such interaction is doubtless
more compelling than static content, it cannot be reproduced
arbitrarily. If a dollar of GM content can be experienced by as many
as one hundred players, and a dollar of static content by as few as
ten thousand, then GM content must be one hundred times more
compelling to be cost-effective.
Ultimately, this is simply another comparison between pen-and-paper
RPG and MMORPG, though this one suggests that the relative
popularity of MMORPG can be explained not by form, but by simple
economics.
Jeremy Neal Kelly - 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 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