January 2004
- The last days of Discord PVP server on EQ Frank Crowell
- The last days of Discord PVP server on EQ szii@sziisoft.com
- biggest muds Matt Mihaly
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Brad McQuaid
- Congratulations Horizons... Marian Griffith
- Congratulations Horizons... Brad McQuaid
- Congratulations Horizons... T H
- Congratulations Horizons... Matt Mihaly
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Chanur Silvarian
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Brad McQuaid
- Congratulations Horizons... Marian Griffith
- Congratulations Horizons... Chris Duesing
- Congratulations Horizons... Mike Shaver
- Congratulations Horizons... Marian Griffith
- Congratulations Horizons... Tom "cro" Gordon
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Brad McQuaid
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Christopher Kohnert
- Congratulations Horizons... Vincent Archer
- Congratulations Horizons... Chanur Silvarian
- Congratulations Horizons... Vincent Archer
- Congratulations Horizons... Chanur Silvarian
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Chanur Silvarian
- Congratulations Horizons... Matt Mihaly
- Congratulations Horizons... John Buehler
- Congratulations Horizons... Philip M. Hofer {Frumph}
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Paul Schwanz
- Congratulations Horizons... Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- Congratulations Horizons... Matt Mihaly
- Congratulations Horizons... Lee Sheldon
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Ted L. Chen
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Ammon Lauritzen
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Chanur Silvarian
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Michael "Flury" Chui
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Zach Collins {Siege}
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers David Kennerly
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Paolo Piselli
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Sean Kelly
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Chanur Silvarian
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Alex Chacha
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Ted L. Chen
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers ceo
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Dave Bacher
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Ben Hawes
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Byron Ellacott
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Kirinyaga
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers szii@sziisoft.com
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Brian Hook
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Mike Shaver
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Byron Ellacott
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Byron Ellacott
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers J C Lawrence
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Rayzam
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Vincent Archer
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Robert Zubek
- [DGN] The psychology of random numbers Travis Casey
- [BIZ] Defining 'churhn' in relation to MMO games Tom "cro" Gordon
- [BIZ] Defining 'churhn' in relation to MMO games ren@aldermangroup.com
- Moderation delays J C Lawrence
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Peter Seebach
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Jon Leonard
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Peter Seebach
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Lars Duening
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Peter Seebach
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Mats Lidstrom
- NEWS TECH: Welcome to the "MUD-Dev" mailing list Lars Duening
- Expected value and standard deviation. Michael Tresca
- Expected value and standard deviation. Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Expected value and standard deviation. Michael Tresca
- Expected value and standard deviation. Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- levels (was: ghost mode) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9) Paul Schwanz
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue9) John Buehler
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue9) Rayzam
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue9) Paul Schwanz
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue9) Sheela Caur'Lir
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue9) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol7, Issue9) eversilver@yahoo.com
- Camping (Was just named as a generic MUD-DEV reply) Chanur Silvarian
- Camping (Was just named as a generic MUD-DEV reply) ren@aldermangroup.com
- Camping (Was just named as a generic MUD-DEV reply) Brent P. Newhall
- Exploits and hacks in MMORPGs Björn Morén
- Exploits and hacks in MMORPGs Daniel Anderson
- Exploits and hacks in MMORPGs Sheela Caur'Lir
- Exploits and hacks in MMORPGs Kirinyaga
- Do players enjoy farming? Chanur Silvarian
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9) Paul Schwanz
- Do players enjoy farming? (was MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 7, Issue 9) Tom "cro" Gordon
- Online worlds and behavior... etykwins@fcbayern.de
- ANNOUNCE: MUD-Dev conference, 26 and 27 March 2004 J C Lawrence
- MudWorld.Org Anthony R. Haslage
- New MMORPG from the Army Amanda Walker
- New MMORPG from the Army Dave Rickey
- New MMORPG from the Army Amanda Walker
- New MMORPG from the Army Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- FedExing ghovs
- Play styles and world interactionsistilldontwantitposted@phlange.com J C Lawrence
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Sean Middleditch
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval T H
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Ben Hawes
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Sean Middleditch
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Spot
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Sean Middleditch
- Death and Permadeath and Corpse Retrieval Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [DGN] Senior Focus Mentor Needed Andrew Budd
- [BIZ] HOW TO SCREW UP A PERFECTLY GOOD GAME COMPANY IN TEN EASY STEPS Michael Tresca
- [BIZ] TEN MORE EASY WAYS TO SCREW UP YOUR GAME COMPANY Michael Tresca
- Crafting systems Björn Morén
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex David Lyttle
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex eversilver@yahoo.com
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex Chanur Silvarian
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex Sean Howard
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex Chanur Silvarian
- Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex Sean Howard
- Moving toward Massive Multiplay (was Congratulations Horizons...) Paul Schwanz
OK, the "Congratulations Horizons" thread just sort of set off
something that has been rattling around in my head for a while. To
me, what is being described there (among other things) is a method
for moving quests toward a true massive multiplay experience, and I
think this is a brilliant idea.
For clarity's sake as you read the following article:
SP = single play = 1 player
TP = team play = 2-10 players (or whatever the max group
membership is in your favorite MMORPG)
MMP = massive multiplay = 10-1000's of players
~*~
And now abideth these three: single play, team play, and massive
multiplay. And the greatest of these is massive multiplay. (I
Phin 13:13)
A major gripe I have against current MMORPGs is that, although they
are billed as massively multi-player, they don't really offer much
in the way of massive multiplay. Instead, the virtual worlds often
end up feeling like massively single-player games or massively
parallel single-player experiences. Actually, to be fair, a lot of
MMORPGs do a decent job of presenting players with massively
parallel team-player experiences, but I think even this falls well
short of their potential.
I suppose the trend is understandable since MMORPGs draw heavily on
single-player RPGs, which in turn draw heavily on party-based
(team-player) tabletop games, but I often get the sense that there
are not enough designers looking beyond this paradigm to realize the
possibilities of massive multiplay.
It may seem that I'm assuming that games will benefit from having
massive multiplay, but I don't believe this assumption is flawed.
Massive multiplay doesn't preclude single play and team play. It
merely gives them a context; a connection at a higher level. It can
offer MMORPGs something unique, something that single-player games
or team-player games cannot offer. It can build community where
single play cannot, without as much restrictive interdependence or
close coordination as is required for team play. And I believe it
has the potential to build communities of a much larger scale.
The best method for demonstrating what I'm describing might be to
take different sorts of common MMORPG gameplay and contrast the
possible approaches.
Participating in a quest:
SP: A character undertakes to complete a quest generated by
another PC or an NPC. Some sorts of flags or items are attached
to the character to help monitor her progress and reward
success.
TP: Sometimes players group together to complete individual
quests. Grouping typically has benefits via the interface,
chat, group bufs, increased experience gain, etc. As far as I
know, however, the quests are still individual in that there are
not any quest flags or items attached to the group entity. But
this makes sense because group members can be very transient.
Still, it might be interesting to sit down and brainstorm about
what sorts of quests might work for teams and how the teams
could be rewarded.
MMP: Here, the quest flags are attached to a larger entity. It
could be a server-wide quest, a quest for a particular race,
nation, city, guild, or whatever other large entities your
design might support. If members of this entity share the goals
presented by the quest and also share the rewards, I think you
will find it can build a tremendous sense of community. And it
can do so without the coordination hassles and forced grouping
typically designed into TP. Furthermore, membership in these
groups is much less transient so that even the rewards can be
attached to the group and not necessarily to the individual
characters in the group.
SP/TP/MMP: Some quests might share the characteristics of more
than one approach. For instance, there may be a quest to clear
rats out of Bubba's Blacksmith shop. Since the blacksmith shop
is in her town, Buffy could accept the quest, kill the rats, and
be given an individual reward. This is all a very typical SP
quest. However, a rat-free blacksmith shop might also be set as
a quest flag for the town itself, and clearing out the rats may
mean that Bubba will now offer better swords at his shop to the
town's citizens. This is what I mean by MMP giving context and
connection to SP and TP.
Gaining a new ability:
SP: New abilities, skills or spells are often a major incentive
for players. They may spend inordinate amounts of time doing
the same tedious tasks again and again so that they can
eventually get the skill or spell that will open up their
gameplay to new possibilities.
TP: Again, although it is typical to have individual skills that
can benefit the group, as far as I can tell, the transient
nature inherent in grouping discourages designs that might
attach skills or abilities to the group itself.
MMP: As in the Horizons example, the server may gain the ability
to play a new race. Or a guild might gain the ability to build
a better guild hall. A town might gain the ability to build a
blacksmith shop where weapon repairs are discounted, or a forge
where citizens can craft armor. Your city might gain the
ability to build a space port. All priests who are members of a
certain temple might gain the ability to cast a particular
priestly spell. These abilities might be granted for completing
a particular quest, for reaching certain population or
membership levels, or for reaching some other sort of goal. The
abilities might be individual in nature so that all members of
the group gain a new personal skill, or they may be weilded by
an official, designated by the community.
Equipping an item:
SP: You don amour that gives you special protection against fire
attacks. You equip a sword that increases your strength stat.
TP: Your team climbs into a vehicle that gives added protection
and increases movement speed.
MMP: Your town adds Odin's Hammer to its display case in the
town hall and all the blacksmiths in town learn how to craft
weapons with increased magical properties. Perhaps you quested
for the item. Perhaps it was the spoils of war with a rival
town. Perhaps you bought it from a distant civilization.
Crafting an item:
SP: You go through the steps needed to create a new blaster.
TP: Your team crafts a mobile weapons platform, each
contributing as a specialist in avionics, engineering, weaponry,
etc.
MMP: Your village gathers the resources and skills needed to
construct a perimeter wall and gate.
I'm sure this list could go on for some time. The exercise is
simply one of considering various single-play or team-play portions
of the game and then figuring out how to expand the scope of the
experience so that little pieces of it can be shared by larger
communities of players who can also share in the rewards of success.
Every bit of design intuition in me believes that this sort of
gameplay will do wonderful things for community and that MMORPG
players will absolutely love the design that results from moving
toward massive multiplay.
Paul "Phinehas" Schwanz - ADMIN: Policy change J C Lawrence
- [TECH][TOOLS] SCM systems ceo
- [TECH][TOOLS] SCM systems Erik Bethke
- [TECH][TOOLS] SCM systems ceo
- [TECH][TOOLS] SCM systems Jon A. Lambert
- Problems with current RPGs Björn Morén
- Problems with current RPGs Koster, Raph
- Problems with current RPGs Sean Howard
- Problems with current RPGs Björn Morén
- Problems with current RPGs Koster, Raph
- Problems with current RPGs Björn Morén
- Problems with current RPGs David Johansson
- Problems with current RPGs Yaka St.Aise
- Problems with current RPGs Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Problems with current RPGs Björn Morén
- Problems with current RPGs Yaka St.Aise
- Character Perceptions John Buehler
- Character Perceptions Derek Licciardi
- Character Perceptions John Buehler
- Character Perceptions ceo
- Character Perceptions John Buehler
- Character Perceptions Scion Altera
- Character Perceptions John Buehler
- Character Perceptions bjoernen@hotmail.com
- Character Perceptions John Buehler
- [BIZ] Warcraft Interview Michael Tresca
- [BIZ] Warcraft Interview ceo
- [BIZ] Warcraft Interview Björn Morén
- Raffle at the MUD-Dev Conference, March 27th and 28th 2004 Ann
- R: Moving toward Massive Multiplay (was CongratulationsHorizons...) Ghilardi Filippo
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Jason Slaughter
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Sean Middleditch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Jason Slaughter
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Sean Middleditch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Kwon J. Ekstrom
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Zach Collins {Siege}
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Byron Ellacott
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Mats Lidstrom
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... ceo
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Zach Collins {Siege}
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... ceo
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Zach Collins {Siege}
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Byron Ellacott
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Edward Glowacki
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Brian Hook
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Sean Middleditch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Frank Crowell
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Byron Ellacott
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Mike Shaver
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Alistair Riddoch
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Thomas Clive Richards
- Python script as stand alone MUD server... Zach Collins {Siege}
- [BIZ] Apparent acquisition of Yantis (mysupersales) by IDE Rudy Fink
- [BIZ] Apparent acquisition of Yantis (mysupersales) by IDE Bruce Mitchener
- Meaning and entertainment - Farming and FedExing (was Do players enjoy farming?) Michael Sellers
- Power games Ana Valdés
- Power games Mats Lidstrom
- Power games Ana Valdés
- Power games Byron Ellacott
- Power games Ana Valdés
- Mage 2 Mage gbtmud
- Mage 2 Mage Travis Casey
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Brad King
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Chris
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Nick Yee
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Paul Schwanz
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Interpersonal Relations in Virtual Worlds Lee Faris
- Platform choice Gary Whitten
- MUD client popularity Brian Hook
- MUD client popularity Frank Crowell
- MUD client popularity Ammon Lauritzen
- MUD client popularity Brian Hook
- MUD client popularity Rayzam
- MUD client popularity Brian Hook
- MUD client popularity Rayzam
- MUD client popularity Edward Glowacki
- MUD client popularity J C Lawrence
- MUD client popularity Edward Glowacki
- MUD client popularity Travis Casey
- MUD client popularity Ammon Lauritzen
- MUD client popularity Byron Ellacott
- MUD client popularity Frank Fisher
- MUD client popularity ceo
- MUD client popularity Edward Glowacki
- MUD client popularity Emil Nilimaa
- MUD client popularity Tom "cro" Gordon
- MUD client popularity Edward Glowacki
- MUD client popularity Sean Middleditch
- MUD client popularity Zach Collins {Siege}
- MUD client popularity Sean Middleditch
- MUD client popularity Alistair Riddoch
- MUD client popularity Byron Ellacott
- MUD client popularity Brian Hook
- MUD client popularity Brian Hook
- MUD client popularity Sean Middleditch
- MUD client popularity Edward Glowacki
- MUD client popularity Brent P. Newhall
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Frank Crowell
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Miroslav Silovic
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Frank Crowell
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Crosbie Fitch
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Frank Crowell
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Byron Ellacott
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Crosbie Fitch
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Byron Ellacott
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Tom "cro" Gordon
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Crosbie Fitch
- SMOG - small multiuser online game Crosbie Fitch
- [BUS] How to build an MMOG... ceo
- [DGN] Subjective randomness (was: The psychology of random numbers) Robert Zubek
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Björn Morén
- Solutions for smarter NPCs ext.Christer.Enfors@tietoenator.com
- Solutions for smarter NPCs info@castwide.com
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Kirinyaga
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Vincent Archer
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Valerio Santinelli
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Olivier Lejade
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Kirinyaga
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Olivier Lejade
- Solutions for smarter NPCs Michael Sellers