April 2004

• [BIZ] Playas Pay to Spread the Luv Michael Tresca
• Mogi from Newtgames Olivier Lejade
• Client side simulation dienw
• • Client side simulation Nate Combs {Home}
  • • Client side simulation Thomas Tomiczek
  • Client side simulation Amanda Walker
  • Client side simulation Artur Biesiadowski
  • Client side simulation Byron Ellacott
• [Devops] Initial meoww cleanup J C Lawrence
• Middleware (was Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (thefirstone :)) Michael Sellers
• • Middleware (was Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (thefirstone :)) Tess Snider
  • • Middleware (was Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (thefirstone :)) Amanda Walker
  • Middleware (was Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10Reasons (thefirstone :)) Derek Licciardi
• Announcement: Community Work Symposium - May 21 T.L. Taylor
• Middleware ceo
• [NEWS] Final Fantasy XI debut on PS2 in US kennerly@sfsu.edu
• Random Placename Generation Matt Chatterley
• • Random Placename Generation Joshua Hughes
  • Random Placename Generation Ben Hawes
  • • Random Placename Generation Matt Chatterley
  • Random Placename Generation Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
• Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (thefirstone :)) Mike Rozak
• Middleware Luca Girardo
• Habitat Redux Mirjam Eladhari
• MUD-Dev Convention Report David Kennerly
• Licensed setting MMOGs Matt Mihaly
• • Licensed setting MMOGs Michael Sellers
  • Licensed setting MMOGs Matt Mihaly
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Matt Mihaly
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
• Player Justice Freeman, Jeff
• Licensed setting MMOGs Taylor Daynes
• Licensed setting MMOGs Christopher Allen
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
• Dangers of Middleware Mike Rozak
• Licensed setting MMOGs Christopher Allen
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Matt Mihaly
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Amanda Walker
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
  • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Marian Griffith
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
    • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Douglas Goodall
    • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Eric Random
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Matt Mihaly
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
    • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Stone, Jason
      • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Douglas Goodall
• Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (the firstone:)) Thomas Tomiczek
• • Sun's Sim Server and Gordon's 10 Reasons (thefirstone:)) David Kennerly
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Matt Mihaly
  • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! J C Lawrence
  • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John MacQueen
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Brian Hook
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Travis Casey
  • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Brian Hook
    • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
      • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Kevin N Shallow
• Paranoia Ragnar Lonn
• Player Justice Amanda Walker
• • Player Justice Paul Schwanz
• Less constrained environments Chris Duesing
• • Less constrained environments John MacQueen
• MMOG money-making clients ceo
• • MMOG money-making clients Koster, Raph
  • MMOG money-making clients Valerio Santinelli
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Otis Viles
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Paul Schwanz
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Paolo Piselli
    • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Otis Viles
      • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Amanda Walker
      • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Vincent Archer
        • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Jeff Fuller
          • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Thomas Tomiczek
            • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Steven King
          • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
          • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Vincent Archer
            • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! J C Lawrence
        • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Brian Miller
        • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! John Buehler
          • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Chris Duesing
      • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Paul Schwanz
      • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Paolo Piselli
        • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Amanda Walker
      • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Matt Mihaly
      • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! baar@imperian.com
• Middleware (was Sun's Sim Server andGordon's10Reasons (thefirstone :)) Matt Chatterley
• MudDev FAQ - part 2 Marian Griffith
• Gay Characters in Videogames Michael Tresca
• • Gay Characters in Videogames Tess Snider
  • • Gay Characters in Videogames Darksuit
  • Gay Characters in Videogames Matt Mihaly
  • • Gay Characters in Videogames Michael Tresca
    • • Gay Characters in Videogames Jon A. Lambert
      • • Gay Characters in Videogames matt@ironrealms.com
  • Gay Characters in Videogames Douglas Goodall
• MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 11, Issue 10 kihyun {GTA Interactive}
• Player Justice Freeman, Jeff
• • Player Justice Paul Schwanz
• Licensed setting MMOGs Ian McDonald
• • Licensed setting MMOGs Christopher Allen
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Ryan S. Dancey
• • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Otis Viles
  • • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! baar@imperian.com
  • [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! J C Lawrence
• R: [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Ghilardi Filippo
• [BoardGameDesign] Fog of War (to Robert & dr1010xltd) (fwd) J C Lawrence
• Online economies was [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Brian Hook
• PvP vs. PvE was [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Brian Hook
• [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy! Eric Random
• Kaczynski's Law Freeman, Jeff
  Everyone is familiar with Bartle's Essay
  
  http://www.brandeis.edu/pubs/jove/HTML/v1/bartle.html
  
  so I won't go there. Basically the theory is that some people are
  more socializers and less achievers, other people are more killers
  and less explorers.
  
  Somewhat less well known is Nick Yee's Player Motivations study
  
  http://www.nickyee.com/facets/home.html
  
  which failed to find any reliable method of putting players in
  boxes, defining them as 'player-types'. Rather, he found five
  distinct motivations for playing games that people possessed to
  lesser or greater degree. Furthermore, that people who strongly
  identified with 'achiever'-motivations weren't really less likely
  (nor more likely) to identify strongly with the
  'socializer'-motivations, etc.
  
  Lately there's been also some discussion regarding type-A players
  and type-B players: The idea being that type-A players (whom are in
  the minority) desire a "sandbox"-style game where they're given lots
  of toys and tools and allowed to do whatever they want. Type-B
  players, conversely, desire clear, specific goals outlined for
  them. The idea here is that you should have 70% to 80% of your
  content geared for one type of player, and 20% to 30% geared for the
  other.
  
  Here's someone taking a slightly different approach. It is closer to
  Nick Yee's study, in that it doesn't assign people to
  mutually-exclusive 'types', but still quite different in which
  motivations are deemed important. This begins with what I like to
  call Kaczynski's Law:
  
  "a human being needs goals whose attainment requires effort, and
  he must have a reasonable rate of success in attaining his goals."
  
  Now that statement, alone, satisfies the type-B player
  description. But there's more to it than that. This hypothesis is
  contrary to the argument that some people need A, whereas other
  people need B. Rather, it is to say, all people have a need for one,
  and most people have a need for both.
  
  Quoting once more:
  
  "The power process has four elements. The three most clear-cut of
  these we call goal, effort and attainment of goal. (Everyone needs
  to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to
  succeed in attaining at least some of his goals.) The fourth
  element is more difficult to define and may not be necessary for
  everyone. We call it autonomy..."
  
  While the concept of 'autonomy' addresses the type-A playstyle, this
  hypothesis doesn't state that some people need A and other people
  need B, but rather it states that all people need B and most people
  need A, too.
  
  Personally, I disagree with that, in that I think it more likely all
  people need both A (autonomy) and B (goal, effort and attainment).
  Ultimately, that disagreement is a mere quibble: If you're designing
  a game for a large group of people, then if "most people" need
  autonomy, then it's a must-have for your game, even if some minority
  of players don't need it.
  
  He writes better than I do:
  
  "But most people need a greater or lesser degree of autonomy in
  working toward their goals. Their efforts must be undertaken on
  their own initiative and must be under their own direction and
  control. Yet most people do not have to exert this initiative,
  direction and control as single individuals. It is usually enough
  to act as a member of a SMALL group. Thus if half a dozen people
  discuss a goal among themselves and make a successful joint effort
  to attain that goal, their need for the power process will be
  served. But if they work under rigid orders handed down from above
  that leave them no room for autonomous decision and initiative,
  then their need for the power process will not be served. The same
  is true when decisions are made on a collective bases if the group
  making the collective decision is so large that the role of each
  individual is insignificant."
  
  So, the danger in 'typing people' is that you wind-up implementing,
  for example, entire professions or classes that do not satisfy all
  of the elements of the power process. For example, you might
  implement a combat professions on the one hand, and a social
  profession on the other. 'Thinking that some players want the
  directed-experience of your combat profession whereas others want
  the sandbox-expierience of your social profession.
  
  But there are elements of the social profession (autonomy!) that
  more combat-oriented players, playing combat-only professions, would
  enjoy, and need. And conversely there are elements of the combat
  professions (goal, effort, attainment) that are desirable and
  necessary for all players. A player focusing on your social
  (autonomous, sandboxy) profession would miss-out on the
  directed-experience, that sort of gameplay, and would not be as
  satisfied with their experience as they would have been otherwise.
  
  So, what games need are both, for all players, all the time: The
  player must always have goals, which require effort to obtain, and
  which they do obtain with a reasonable degree of success. And the
  player must have autonomy.
  
  Fortunately these aren't opposing play-styles: You needn't choose
  which to provide to which player. Rather, the player needs to be
  given choices in how, when and which goals to satisfy, but not the
  option to opt-out of satisfying any goals at all. The player has to
  be forced to do something, but just exactly what that something is
  and how to go about doing it, should be a choice left up to the
  player.
  
  To use EQ as an example, you must level-up. If you aren't, then you
  aren't really playing the game. You can take a break from grinding
  xps to go pursue some short-term temporary goal, such as twinking a
  pal, or to just goof off for a while, but ultimately you come back
  to the goal that you can't get away from. So you cannot opt-out of
  it (apart from just quitting the game altogether). But you do get a
  lot of choices as to how pursue that goal. Starting with
  class-selection, which dictates a lot about what sorts of things
  you're going to be doing in order to level-up, and then also with
  the choices you make about where to go, what to kill, which items to
  camp (because they will assist you in pursuing the goal of leveling
  up) and so on.
  
  Therefore, EQ serves the need for the power process for a lot of
  people.
  
  But what about 'fun'? Surely people don't really play games to
  satisfy the need for goal-effort-attainment and autonomy. They play
  to have fun!
  
  Well, okay. The reason we're playing games to begin with is to have
  fun, and be entertained.
  
  But the purpose of both Bartle's Essay and Nick Yee's Study is to
  address retention, not fun - and a fun game is not necessarily a
  sticky one.
  
  This is not to say that people will play an un-fun game so long as
  it satisfies the power-process. Rather, it does suggest that if a
  game fails to satisfy the power-process, it probably won't be fun,
  either. More likely, it will be boring, tedious, repetitive or
  frustrating: Because it fails to provide goals, the goals are too
  easily attained. Or the goals are too difficult to attain. Or
  because the game doesn't offer the player any freedom or choices to
  make.
• • Kaczynski's Law Michael Sellers
  • • Kaczynski's Law Freeman, Jeff
    • • Kaczynski's Law Michael Sellers
      • • Kaczynski's Law Jon A. Lambert
        • Kaczynski's Law jfreeman@soe.sony.com
        • • Kaczynski's Law Robert Flesch
          • • Kaczynski's Law Freeman, Jeff
            • Kaczynski's Law Freeman, Jeff
    • Kaczynski's Law J C Lawrence
    • Kaczynski's Law Mike Rozak
    • • Kaczynski's Law Michael Sellers
  • Kaczynski's Law cruise
  • Kaczynski's Law Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
  • Kaczynski's Law Mike Rozak
• Playing catch-up with levels [WAS Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy!] Byron Ellacott
• • Playing catch-up with levels [WAS Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy!] Steven King
• PvP vs. PvE Rob C
• notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC Mirjam Eladhari
• • notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC matt@ironrealms.com
  • notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC Luca Girardo
  • • notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC Jonas Heide Smith
  • notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC Ren Reynolds
  • notes from MUD Dev conf and GDC Brian 'Psychochild' Green
• Playing catch-up with levels Byron Ellacott
• • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
  • • Playing catch-up with levels Craig Huber
    • • Playing catch-up with levels Michael Sellers
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
      • Playing catch-up with levels Ben Hawes
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
        • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
          • Playing catch-up with levels Hulbert, Leland
        • Playing catch-up with levels John Arras
        • Playing catch-up with levels jfreeman@soe.sony.com
        • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Chatterley
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
            • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Chatterley
              • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
          • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Mihaly
          • Playing catch-up with levels Vincent Archer
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
            • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
            • • Playing catch-up with levels Stephen Routledge
              • • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
            • Playing catch-up with levels Lars Duening
            • Playing catch-up with levels ext.Christer.Enfors@tietoenator.com
            • • Playing catch-up with levels Vincent Archer
              • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
                • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
                • Playing catch-up with levels ext.Christer.Enfors@tietoenator.com
                • Playing catch-up with levels Eli Stevens {WG.c}
          • Playing catch-up with levels Zach Collins {Siege}
          • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
            • • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
              • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
                • • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
                  • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
                  • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
                    • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
                      • • Playing catch-up with levels Jason Downs
                • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
                • • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
                  • • Playing catch-up with levels Steven King
                    • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
                    • • Playing catch-up with levels Chris Duesing
                      • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
                    • Playing catch-up with levels Travis Nixon
                • Playing catch-up with levels Steven King
                • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
                  • Playing catch-up with levels Travis Nixon
                  • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
                  • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
                    • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
                  • Playing catch-up with levels Douglas Goodall
                  • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
                    • • Playing catch-up with levels Douglas Goodall
                      • Playing catch-up with levels Harrok
          • Playing catch-up with levels Valerio Santinelli
        • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
        • • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Kwon J. Ekstrom
      • Playing catch-up with levels Jeff Fuller
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Craig Huber
      • Playing catch-up with levels Jeff
      • Playing catch-up with levels Byron Ellacott
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Craig Huber
        • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
      • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
    • Playing catch-up with levels cruise
    • • Playing catch-up with levels Zach Collins {Siege}
• DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
• • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Edward Glowacki
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency baar@imperian.com
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Ian McDonald
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency baar@imperian.com
    • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Pileborg Joachim - FMT
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Paul Schwanz
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Matt Chatterley
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
    • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
      • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
        • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
          • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
            • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
              • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
                • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
              • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Matt Chatterley
              • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
                • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
                  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Matt Chatterley
            • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Douglas Goodall
          • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Paul Schwanz
          • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
          • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
            • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency sziisoft
            • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency cruise
              • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Steven King
                • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Matt Chatterley
            • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Douglas Goodall
            • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
              • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Douglas Goodall
                • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
                • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency baar@imperian.com
                • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Eric Random
            • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Adam Helps
          • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Eric Random
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Brian Thyer
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Castronova, Edward
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Eric Random
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Alistair Milne
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
    • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency John Buehler
      • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Rayzam
        • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Kirinyaga
  • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Freeman, Jeff
    • • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency brian@thyer.net
      • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Kirinyaga
  • DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency Arkitan Plu
• Story Generators Douglas Goodall
• ADMIN Changes to the list page J C Lawrence
• MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 11, Issue 19 Chanur Silvarian
• Playing catch-up with levels Jeremy Gaffney
• MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 11, Issue 19 Threshold RPG
• Bringing in friends Pat Ditterline
• • Bringing in friends Amanda Walker
• [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... ceo
• • [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... Freeman, Jeff
  • [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... Eli Stevens {WG.c}
  • [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... Sean Howard
  • [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... Mike Rozak
  • [biz][tech][dgn][soc] Ten MMOG's you don't want to do... Nathan Yospe
• Playing catch-up with levels Steven King
• • Playing catch-up with levels Byron Ellacott
• Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
• MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 11, Issue 23 Alex Chacha
• Playing catch-up with levels Sean Howard
• • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
  • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Mihaly
    • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Mihaly
        • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Mihaly
        • Playing catch-up with levels Amanda Walker
        • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
    • Playing catch-up with levels Sean Howard
    • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Sean Howard
        • • Playing catch-up with levels Matt Mihaly
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Ola Fosheim Grøstad
          • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler
          • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
  • Playing catch-up with levels Zach Collins {Siege}
  • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
  • • Playing catch-up with levels Sean Howard
    • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
      • • Playing catch-up with levels Sean Howard
        • • Playing catch-up with levels Threshold RPG
          • • Playing catch-up with levels John Buehler