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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: &lt;<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Travis Casey" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 19:54:59 -0400</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: "Travis Casey" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</A>&gt;</LI>
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<PRE>
Adam Wiggins &lt;nightfall#user2,inficad.com&gt; wrote:
&gt;[Caliban:]
&gt;&gt; On Sat, 20 Sep 1997 07:22:18 PST8PDT, Matt Chatterley

&gt;&gt; The distinction I draw here is as follows. A hack and slash game
&gt;&gt; actively encourages anti-social behavior (fighting and killing). A
&gt;
&gt;Again, see the above.  I don't agree.
&gt;IMO, adventure is the most anti-social.  See my previous gripes about LPs.
&gt;Of course, I consider pick-pocketing other people (particularly my friends)
&gt;to be both fun and perfectly social.  Naturally this doesn't work if people
&gt;aren't 'in' to that aspect of the game.  For that matter, I played a fair
&gt;amount of multi-player Doom years ago, and I recall it being extremelly
&gt;social.  Or go down to the Mac lab at the university I used to attend:
&gt;you'll always find a gaggle of bespeckled nerds playing Marathon that are
&gt;more than happy to let you hop into their game.  They have a grand old time
&gt;blowing each other away.  This only works, of course, if you consider
&gt;social to be interacting with others.  If social is only 'Wow, we're such
&gt;good friends, I'm so glad' than I guess this doesn't work.

Perhaps "positive-valued social activities" and "negative-valued social
activities" are better descriptions, although I must say they're much too
long.  At least that terminology would recognize that one can be "social"
and not be a nice person.

&gt;I strongly disagree.  Adventure games could be multi-player or not, and
&gt;it makes no difference.  In fact, you're better off with someone looking
&gt;over your shoulder helping you figure out puzzles than you are with another
&gt;player in the game-room with you, since most puzzle-oriented games
&gt;frown upon players working together on solving quests, and certainly
&gt;disallow any sharing knowledge of previously solved quests.

That's not a problem with puzzle-solving itself, though -- just with the
way the mud in question allows it.  The idea of non-repeating quests has
been discussed here many times -- if a mud were to implement it, it would
eliminate the problem of knowledge sharing, or at least mitigate it.

It's perfectly possible to set up puzzles that *require* multiple players to
complete -- however, then you run into problems with players who prefer to
play solo.  Since I'm one of them, I wouldn't like that.  :-)  The best
solution, IMHO, would be puzzles which are easier to handle with multiple
players, but are possible for one player.

&gt;Players play the game you make.  I'll say it before and I'll say it again:
&gt;calling someone a power-gamer or an RPer is about as silly as accusing
someone
&gt;who happens to be eating at a mexican restaurant a Mexican.  When I'm on
&gt;a hack and slash mud, I powerplay.  When I'm on an RP mud or playing
Rolemaster
&gt;with my friends, I role-play.  Trying to force players to role-play on a
&gt;game not designed with this element at its core won't work.  If players
&gt;aren't playing the game the way that you desire/think it should be played,
&gt;then you need to check your design, not the players.

IMHO, this is a straw man argument.  Of course no one power-games or RPs or
whatever 100% of the time, but that doesn't mean that those aren't useful
classifications; some people *prefer* one of those modes of play, and it can
be useful to label them, *if* you remember that that doesn't mean they'll
*always* play that way.  To draw a parallel, my wife is a country music fan,
but that doesn't mean she *only* listens to country music -- just that it's
what she usually chooses to listen to.

For that matter, almost everyone on this list can be usefully classified as
a "mud developer" -- but I'm certain that no one on this list spends 100% of
their time developing muds.
--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  &lt;efindel#io,com&gt;
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'        rec.games.design FAQ:
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)      <A  HREF="http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html">http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html</A>



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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01504" HREF="msg01504.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface</A></strong>, 
Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Sat 27 Sep 1997, 06:01 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01515" HREF="msg01515.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Usability and interface</A></strong>, 
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sat 27 Sep 1997, 23:29 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01323" HREF="msg01323.html">RE: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Sat 20 Sep 1997, 19:45 GMT
<UL>
<li>&lt;Possible follow-up(s)&gt;<br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01334" HREF="msg01334.html">Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 21 Sep 1997, 02:24 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01347" HREF="msg01347.html">Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 21 Sep 1997, 23:52 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01316" HREF="msg01316.html">Types of game</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sat 20 Sep 1997, 14:07 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01321" HREF="msg01321.html">Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Sat 20 Sep 1997, 19:35 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01325" HREF="msg01325.html">Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sat 20 Sep 1997, 20:16 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01338" HREF="msg01338.html">Re: [MUD-Dev]  Types of game</A></strong>, 
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#user2,inficad.com">nightfall#user2,inficad.com</a>, Sun 21 Sep 1997, 08:58 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>

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