April 2007
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) Richard A. Bartle
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguardreviews and rants) John Buehler
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants) Raph Koster
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) John Buehler
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Raph Koster
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviewsand rants) John Buehler
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants) Michael Hartman
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) John Buehler
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Chris Richards
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Raph Koster
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Amanda Walker
- Importance of emoting (Was:ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) McDonald, Stephen
- Importance of emoting (Was:ArantagainstVanguardreviewsand rants) Richard A. Bartle
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Matt Chatterley
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Morgan Ramsay
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants) Dana V. Baldwin
- Importance of emoting (Was: ArantagainstVanguardreviews and rants) Dana V. Baldwin
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants) Michael Hartman
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants) Richard A. Bartle
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) Mike Sellers
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) Tess Snider
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) Damion Schubert
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguardreviews and rants) Raph Koster
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Vincent Archer
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] John Buehler
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Morris Cox
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Lachek Butalek
On 3/5/07, cruise <cruise@casual-tempest.net> wrote:
> Thus spake Sean Howard...
> > That is a terrible question, partly because "enjoyable" is completely
> > subjective and because "enjoyable" is a product required only by
> > entertainment - games can be a lot of things beyond entertainment, even if
> > the game industry doesn't care yet.
>
> We'll have to disagree on that point. If I'm not enjoying it, it's no
> longer a game.
That's a very narrow definition of a game. I hope I'm not taking your
words out of context here, but doesn't that mean that, to you,
something you do not enjoy ceases to be a game despite someone else
enjoying it? What about if you're temporarily disenchanted with the
game for whatever reason, does it then lose its game nature?
Someone more learned than me could likely validate and rephrase this
concept in proper terminology, but if a game constantly remains at the
exact same degree of enjoyment, do your senses not dull towards it?
Does the game not need a temporary setback - a decrease in enjoyment,
if you will, as you need to repeat efforts (be that by trying the jump
in Super Mario Bros again and again, or grinding the same old mobs to
regain your XP)?
If Sonic constantly went at breakneck speeds, you wouldn't be able to
play for an extended sitting - you need the "boring" downtime.
If an adventure game constantly dropped twists into the story, one
after another, you'd eventually get bored.
If you always fired headshot in an FPS, it would certainly lose its
challenge and turn into a dull killfest.
If you never suffered a loss in an MMORPG, your completion of the Uber
Raid Instance of Doom would just be pointless.
Losing in a game isn't "fun" or "enjoyable", but is a required facet
of the game to ensure the remainder is enjoyable. Both single-player
and MMORPGs has of late been far too lenient in allowing the player to
succeed at anything they do, and frankly it turns the game "on rails"
and boring.
Terra Nova had a decent commentary on this here:
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2007/02/oh_tragedy.html
Moreover, is the "game" of workplace politics enjoyable? Very rarely.
What about the "game" of navigating government bureaucracy? Haven't
met a person yet that enjoys it.
What about the "game" of marketing?
And so on, with any number of real life examples.
All these have obvious "game" like qualities, in terms of utilizing
cognitive processes and pattern recognition to guide your manipulation
of a system to further an end beneficial to yourself. Yet they are
rarely, if ever, enjoyable to most sane individuals.
Lachek
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Jeffrey Kesselman
- Importance of emoting (Was: A rant against Vanguard reviews and rants) John Buehler
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Hideto Koudanshi
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellent commentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] John Buehler
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] What is a game?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] John Buehler
- [DESIGN] What is a game? (again) was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Hideto Koudanshi
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Jean, Yannick
- [DESIGN] Rewards Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Rewards Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Jean, Yannick
- [DESIGN] Rewards Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Jean, Yannick
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Paolo Piselli
- [DESIGN] Rewards Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN] Rewards Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Rewards Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN] Rewards Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Rewards cruise
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards David Love
- [DESIGN] Rewards Johnicholas Hines
- [DESIGN] Rewards Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sulka Haro
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN] Rewards Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN] Rewards John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Rewards Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Rewards Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Rewards Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Rewards Adam Martin
- Downtime & SWG (Was: Importance of emoting) Sean Howard
- Downtime & SWG (Was: Importance of emoting) Raph Koster
- Downtime & SWG (Was: Importance of emoting) Sean Howard
- Framing and Player Psychology (was: Importance of emoting) Tess Snider
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops cruise
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN/OPERATION] A rant about NPC ops John Buehler
- What is agame?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] John Buehler
- What is agame?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] cruise
- What is agame?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary on Vanguard's diplomacy system] Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs. Demand-Driven Shannon Sullivan
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs. Demand-Driven cruise
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs.Demand-Driven Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs. Demand-Driven Morris Cox
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs. Demand-Driven Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs. Demand-Driven Chris Richards
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs.Demand-Driven John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Drivenvs.Demand-Driven Dave Scheffer
- RE : [DESIGN] Rewards Jean, Yannick
- [DESIGN] Is photorealism the goal? ( was Ray traced environments) Jeffrey Kesselman
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync John Buehler
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync Jeffrey Kesselman
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync Hudson, Thomas C.
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync Lachek Butalek
- [TECH] Client time-server time sync Adam Martin
- Whatisagame?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary onVanguard's diplomacy system] Dave Scheffer