September 2007

• Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Damion Schubert
• • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Aurel Mihai
  • • [DESIGN] Where massive? John Buehler
    • • [DESIGN] Where massive? Damion Schubert
      • • [DESIGN] Where massive? Aurel Mihai
        • • [DESIGN] Where massive? Richard A. Bartle
          • [DESIGN] Where massive? Damion Schubert
    • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Michael Hartman
    • • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Roger Hicks
      • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Christopher Lloyd
      • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Damion Schubert
        On 9/14/07, Michael Hartman <mlist@thresholdrpg.com> wrote:
        >
        > Aurel Mihai wrote:
        > > On 9/4/07, Damion Schubert <dschubert@gmail.com> wrote:
        > >
        > >>Saying
        > >>"what if there was a monster that took FORTY of us to take down?"
        > >>is a uniquely evocative statement. It is, as you state, an earnest
        > >>desire to be part of something big. It's big, and it's
        > visceral. Having
        > >>your small 5-man squad win a battle which adds a few points to some
        > >>global scoreboard is interesting, in a fantasy football sort of way, but
        > >>what players want from their massively multiplayer games are actions
        > >>which are viscerally... well... massively multiplayer.
        > >
        > > What's the motivation behind being part of something big? IMO it's the
        > > desire to be big oneself. A player that takes part in a 5 hour, 40
        > > player raid can later say "I was there!"
        >
        > The sad problem with WoW is that it is more accurate to say:
        >
        > "What if there were so many trash mobs, it took FORTY of us to press the
        > 1 button for 5 hours and clean it all up! Oh yeah, then I think we
        > fought a boss in there somewhere between the hours of trash killing. Oh,
        > and we have to do the exact same thing every week for 3 months so
        > everyone in the group gets the item they need."
        >
        > That is not epic, visceral, evocative, or anything of that nature. It is
        > just boring and repetitive.
        >
        
        I didn't necessarily say that raids were evocative. Just that the IDEA of
        raids are evocative. And they are, extremely so. Players want games
        that take advantage of what massively multiplayer means. Designers are
        still struggling to do so, usually because end game content is the first
        to get cut when deadlines get tight.
        
        As for your commentary on raids: while its true that most WoW/EQ
        fanbois tend to be overly exuberant on how cool or important raiding is,
        it is equally true that far too many designers dismiss raiding is inherently
        lame without examining what's actually cool, successful, interesting
        or compelling about the experience.
        
        
        --d
      • • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Michael Hartman
        • • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Damion Schubert
          • • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Michael Hartman
            • • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore andMMOs) Mike Sellers
              • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) Vincent Archer
              • Activity Duration in MMOs (was: [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs) John Buehler
• [DESIGN] Character Growth Models (Was: Removing the almighty experience point...) Ian Hess
• • [DESIGN] Character Growth Models (Was: Removing the almighty experience point...) Aurel Mihai
  • • [DESIGN] Character Growth Models (Was: Removing the almighty experience point...) cruise
• [BIZ] Community-building books Mike Rozak
• [MEDIA] Intel Purchases Game Tools Firm Havok Mike Rozak
• • [MEDIA] Intel Purchases Game Tools Firm Havok Jon Mayo
  • • [MEDIA] Intel Purchases Game Tools Firm Havok Peter Keeler
    • • [MEDIA] Intel Purchases Game Tools Firm Havok Mike Rozak
• [DESIGN] Factor of 16 Mike Rozak
• • [DESIGN] Factor of 16 Aurel Mihai
  • [DESIGN] Factor of 16 Michael Hartman
• [DESIGN] Player-generated content cruise
• • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Lachek Butalek
  • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Darryl Woodford
    • [DESIGN] Player-generated content cruise
    • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content John Buehler
      • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content cruise
        • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content John Buehler
          • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Damion Schubert
            • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content John Buehler
            • [DESIGN] Player skill vs. Character Skill [was: Player-generated content] cruise
            • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Vincent Archer
            • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content John Buehler
  • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Caliban Darklock
  • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content cruise
    • • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Tom Hudson
  • [DESIGN] Player-generated content Matt Chatterley
• [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace cruise
• • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Caliban Darklock
  • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Ammon Lauritzen
  • • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace cruise
    • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Bristle
    • • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Shannon Sullivan
      • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Dave Scheffer
      • • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Raph Koster
      • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Morris Cox
  • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Matt Chatterley
  • • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Dana V. Baldwin
    • • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Matt Chatterley
      • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Morris Cox
    • [ANNOUNCE] MetaPlace Vincent Archer
• [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs Michael Hartman