April 2003
- Improper Assessment Brian Lindahl
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Vincent Archer
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Chris Holko
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Louis
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Freeman, Jeff
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Bad Mojo
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" a t y mcguire
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Vincent Archer
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Chris Holko
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Damion Schubert
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Boyle, Paul
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Damion Schubert
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" John Buehler
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" John Buehler
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" John Buehler
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" John Buehler
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Amanda Walker
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Sean Kelly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Amanda Walker
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel Anderson
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel Anderson
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ben Hoyt
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Canniff
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Zach Collins {Siege}
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Chris Schofield
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Rayzam
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Jeff Cole
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Timothy Dang
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Rayzam
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dave Rickey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Rayzam
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Vincent Archer
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Marian Griffith
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" shren
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Zach Collins {Siege}
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Sean Kelly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Sean Kelly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Harrok
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Damion Schubert
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Harrok
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Travis Casey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Michael Tresca
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" David Kennerly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Martin Bassie
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Vincent Archer
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Lee Sheldon
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Damion Schubert
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matthew Dobervich
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Alex Kay
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Scott Jennings
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Scott Jennings
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" John Buehler
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Baar - Lord of the Seven Suns
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Derek Licciardi
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Paul Schwanz
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" shren
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Matt Mihaly
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Edward Glowacki
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Kwon J. Ekstrom
I've been meaning to reply to this for the last couple of days, but
have been too busy. So here goes.
Ryan S. Dancey wrote:
> In fact, having played most of the current MMORPG offerings, I'm
> tempted to say that the MUD-Dev community has a long, long way to
> go before the complexity of the games offered on-line begins to
> match up to the complexity of most popular tabletop RPG systems.
I have to agree with you that there is more diversity in P&P games
than there are in ANY MU* and perhaps even the entire genre.
Where I happen to disagree is your position that this is because of
any failing from the developer community. Sure more things can be
done but P&P games have several advantages in this respect. First
off, they require a human to host each game session. This is also a
liability in that a human must be available to run the session.
Humans are intellectually superior to computers. They learn, adapt,
and interpret situations. A computer is a rigid host, only able to
perform tasks given to it in strict order.
P&P games are an older and more mature market. Based on fiction and
history, they have a wealth of information. The market is
different. For an MU* your job is to entertain the "user", and for
the P&P market, you're selling resources to allow the "user" to
entertain themselves. P&P also has the advantage of content by
edict. Once something is said to exist, it does, and is available.
Third party resources (such as magazines) often contain small
adventures and even new "content" and is often contributed by end
users themselves. (If you flip through alot of D&D material you'll
notice credit to such things).
Put simply, there is simply no way to compete on the level of
content generation. P&P games make their money by selling
resources, such as campaigns, sourcebooks, and various other
content. The content is the money maker, and at literally no
maintenance cost. Sure, spelling and grammar updates, perhaps the
rare modification of a rule or statistic. Each individual DM is
allowed to "interpret" the rules as they see them. Or to even
impose new rules, or ignore existing rules.
To run a MU* you must do several things in addition to this...
Maintain enough bandwidth and server resources... Stable server code
(someone call a doctor!!! our dm just crashed).
After deciding you want to add something new, you must check if you
have the existing abilities for it (hrmm, I want a flaming sword
but...). For a graphical game you need to have someone draw a
picture... The list goes on and on.
I would like to ask... in the last 20 years how many man hours would
you say that official staff have put into generating new "user
accessible" content for P&P games? For just AD&D alone? Including
editing time? I'd say it's a bit harsh to expect MU*'s to equal
that level of content in half the time. I'd say that MU's have come
a long way since the genre was created.
Now there are several things that MU's can do about this. The 3d
models you mentioned are necessary for computers to react in a
meaningful manor to situations. You can chain small affects
together to create diverse end results. AI is starting to allow
more engaging NPC encounters. Most importantly, MU's need to
develop better development tools. What I've been working on for my
own is making it extremely easy to create generic content, then
allowing the builder to add the "interesting" custom stuff on top.
This seems to have many benefits including less builder wearout
(they're working on "new" and exciting things), less testing (most
of the stuff has been tested already), and quicker turnaround (less
work from start to finish). There's also issues with making things
scale to the "massively multiplayer" games. Remember, at one point
computer graphics were limited to lines and circles (remember the
movie Tron?), compare that to modern computer graphics (LOTR?).
-- Kwon J. Ekstrom - D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Talanithus HTML
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Dr. Cat
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Vincent Archer
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Travis Casey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Samurai Cat @ Catacombs
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Travis Casey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Travis Casey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Ryan S. Dancey
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Threshold RPG
- D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity" Freeman, Jeff
- pluggable MMOGs ceo
- pluggable MMOGs John Robert Arras
- pluggable MMOGs ceo
- pluggable MMOGs Daniel James
- pluggable MMOGs ceo
- pluggable MMOGs Lee Sheldon
- pluggable MMOGs ceo
- pluggable MMOGs Lee Sheldon
- NEWS: Planetside preview @ UGO Louis
- 'Stop and smell the roses' (was Winnable MMO) lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
- 'Stop and smell the roses' (was Winnable MMO) Damion Schubert
- 'Stop and smell the roses' (was Winnable MMO) Threshold RPG
- 'Stop and smell the roses' (was Winnable MMO) Baar - Lord of the Seven Suns
- 'Stop and smell the roses' (was Winnable MMO) Alex Kay
- MMORPG Politics (was D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity") Kwip
- MMORPG Politics (was D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity") David Kennerly
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Gavin Doughtie
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Kristen Koster
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Richard A. Bartle
- Who Killed Miss Norway? rkoster@soe.sony.com
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Michael Chui
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Crosbie Fitch
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Matt Mihaly
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Michael Montague
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Richard A. Bartle
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Koster, Raph
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Richard A. Bartle
- Who Killed Miss Norway? shren
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Richard A. Bartle
- Who Killed Miss Norway? F. Randall Farmer
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Gubbs
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Tess Snider
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Steven J. Owens
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Ren Reynolds
- Who Killed Miss Norway? F. Randall Farmer
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Amanda Walker
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Matt Mihaly
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Valerio Santinelli
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Geir Ove Alnes
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Jeff Bachtel
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Benjamin Tolputt
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Geir Ove Alnes
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Marian Griffith
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Ghovs
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Marian Griffith
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Marian Griffith
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Threshold RPG
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Paul Schwanz
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Paul Schwanz
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Who Killed Miss Norway? Jeremy Lee
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Lance Rotten
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Jacob Cord
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Mike Shaver
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Zach Collins {Siege}
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Mike Shaver
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Matthew D. Fuller
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Mike Shaver
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! David Clifton
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Sean Kelly
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Norman Morse
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Sean Kelly
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Mike Shaver
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Byron Ellacott
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Jo Dillon
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! shren
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Eric Merritt
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! shren
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Eric Merritt
- New to MUD Dev, need friendly advice! Byron Ellacott
- Game On(line) for Microsoft, Sony Michael Tresca
- Game On(line) for Microsoft, Sony Alex Kay
- ILG Creative Director Larry Dunlap to speak at E3 Panel Scott Miller
- Male and female brains Koster, Raph
- Male and female brains Richard A. Bartle
- Male and female brains Patricia Pizer
- Male and female brains Steven J. Owens
- Male and female brains Valerio Santinelli
- Male and female brains Richard A. Bartle
- Male and female brains Robin Cloutman
- Male and female brains Valerio Santinelli
- Male and female brains Paul Schwanz
- Male and female brains Valerio Santinelli
- Male and female brains Rayzam
- Male and female brains Marian Griffith
- Male and female brains John Arras
- Male and female brains Marian Griffith
- Male and female brains John Arras
- Male and female brains Tess Snider
- Male and female brains Marian Griffith
- Male and female brains John Arras
- Male and female brains Rayzam
- Male and female brains Valerio Santinelli
- Male and female brains Larry Dunlap at ILG
- student informational interview feebleman