May 2007
- [DESIGN] Developing and balancing a roleplaying system Calvin
- [ADMIN] Bounced Posts? Nick Koranda
- [Offtopic] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Jacob Cord
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John Buehler
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John Buehler
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Raph Koster
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Raph Koster
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? John MacQueen
- "The Next Big Thing" (was [DESIGN} Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Who to design for? Michael Hartman
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
"Caliban Darklock" <cdarklock@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would suggest the popularity of MFS is not because people want to
> learn how to fly a plane, but because people want to fly a plane
> without learning how.
See? Now we're arguing over degrees! Microsoft Flight Sim is still a
pretty darn complex game - certainly more so than 99% of the other games
out there that casual players avoid like the plague. Therefore, I think it
is extremely safe to suggest that complexity has little, if any, affect on
a casual gamer's interests.
And the reason why Falcon isn't as popular is because it has a niche
interest. For one thing, it's military based. A lot of the realism of the
game requires knowing indepth minutae of combat fighter crafts and
maneuvers. Hell, I love complex games, but that subject matter couldn't
interest me less if it had a blog about how emo it was feeling today.
> Specifically, they are more than capable of playing a very complex
> game, if the game does not RELY ON the complexity.
> ...
> But the determining factor is not how complex the game CAN be, it is
> how complex the game MUST be.
Yeah, but you could make statements like that about anything. The Sims is
a dollhouse simulator but its not RELY ON liking dollhouses. Lord of the
Rings Online is based on Tolkien's work but it does not RELY ON knowing
Tolkien's work. At some point, you've got to realize that you've stretched
this anti-complexity argument to the point where you no longer have any
ground left to stand on.
Fact: Casual gamers do not shy away from complex games. In fact, many
really popular casual games are more complex than the average commercial
videogame.
You can dance around that all you want, but you are always going to end up
back in the same place - that complexity isn't a deal breaker. So, if
complexity isn't it, then what else could it be?
>> I believe that when you design something, there is a destination that
>> you must strive for, in which all parts work in absolute harmony.
>
> But it's still artificial. There's no natural requirement that a
> knight must move the way it does, someone just made it up. There are
> many ways a knight could move, and while some of them would unbalance
> the game, there are many that would not. The harmony you describe is
> not a natural harmony. It is, at best, an imitation of natural
> harmony.
Hmm... Natual or not, harmony is harmony and it is the destination all
designers must aim for. Gosh, I'm starting to sound like Christopher
Alexander now. "The Quality That Can Not Be Named" and all that stuff.
There are different destinations a game can aim for. Yeah, there are
different ways a knight can move, but for a specific destination, there is
a superior decision on that matter - or at least, if they are equal, then
choosing either or will still achieve the desired perfection in thought
and deed.
--
Sean Howard - [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Mike Sellers
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Tess Snider
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Mike Sellers
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Michael Chui
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Peter Keeler
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Ammon Lauritzen
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Sean Howard
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Lachek Butalek
- [Design] 4Cs (was Who to design for?) Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? cruise
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Sean Howard
- [DESIGN} Who to design for? Caliban Darklock
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Caliban Darklock
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs cruise
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Ian Hess
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Ian Hess
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Lachek Butalek
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Hartman
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Kiztent
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Jean, Yannick
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Hartman
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Vincent Archer
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dave Scheffer
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Tess Snider
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs John Buehler
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Morris Cox
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Matt Chatterley
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Nick Koranda
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Damion Schubert
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Steve "Bloo" Daniels
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Cory Cohen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Matt Chatterley
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Craig Huber
- [JOBS] Areae hiring Raph Koster
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Phillip Lenhardt
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Tess Snider
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dave Scheffer
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Matt Chatterley
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Peter Keeler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Michael Chui
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Soy weiser
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Ammon Lauritzen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Jeffrey Kesselman
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Ammon Lauritzen
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Perma-death John Buehler
- [DESIGN] Perma-death Hans Häggström
- [DESIGN] Perma-death cruise
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Adam Martin
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Morgan Ramsay
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Sean Howard
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Adam Martin
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employee interview Caliban Darklock
- [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Mike Rozak
- Fwd: [NEWS] Sigil / Vanguard fallout ... the ex-employeeinterview Adam Martin
- [DESIGN] Mechanical support for socializer playstyles Ian Hess
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Alistair Riddoch
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Lachek Butalek
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Creating games with Worldforge Tess Snider
- The Merits of Text Chat (Was: Importance of emoting) Michael Hartman
- The Merits of Text Chat (Was: Importance of emoting) Matt Chatterley
- [Design] Alternatives To Advancement Systems (was Food in MMOs) Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Dana V. Baldwin
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Caliban Darklock
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Sean Howard
- [DESIGN] Essence of a MMO (was 4Cs) Dana V. Baldwin
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Roger D Vargas
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Caliban Darklock
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Richard Tew
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Ammon Lauritzen
- [TECH] Server Side Scripting Jeffrey Kesselman