Categories
Development

MMOG Developers Speak

The Future of Massively Multiplayer Games
Some choice quotes:

Of course, user-created content has a lot of sticky issues. Raph Koster, former Lead Designer for Ultima Online and current Creative Director for Sony Online Entertainment and Star Wars Galaxies, expressed the problem without mincing words: “Our corporations are terrified of this.”

Are developers worried that empowering users to create things will just result in massive worlds packed with low-quality (read: crap) content? Of all the people I spoke with, this didn’t seem to be a concern.

… message to elitist writers and artists was this: “Get over yourselves! The rest of the world is coming.” … “We can do what Lego did and give them [the players] the blocks,” he explained.

Social structures seem to evolve in spite of this system, rather than because of it. Another designer wished that MMOG game design could be more influenced by Will Wright (creator of The Sims) than by Gary Gygax (creator of Dungeons & Dragons).

The root of the issue is that players will do whatever they’re rewarded for doing. And it’s easy to reward monster-bashing; it’s a simple, elegant system that’s worked in games for decades. It’s much more difficult to reward other kinds of activities without players abusing the system.


“We’re building games with too many moving parts!” … “Hideously complex games that are impossible to balance.” Her argument ultimately wasn’t that games should be simple, just that they needed to be elegant and easy to understand.

… an intuitive sampling service to get people hooked on the game world. “Like liquid crack,” he said.

Categories
Development

MMOG Developers Speak

The Future of Massively Multiplayer Games
Some choice quotes:

Of course, user-created content has a lot of sticky issues. Raph Koster, former Lead Designer for Ultima Online and current Creative Director for Sony Online Entertainment and Star Wars Galaxies, expressed the problem without mincing words: “Our corporations are terrified of this.”

Are developers worried that empowering users to create things will just result in massive worlds packed with low-quality (read: crap) content? Of all the people I spoke with, this didn’t seem to be a concern.

… message to elitist writers and artists was this: “Get over yourselves! The rest of the world is coming.” … “We can do what Lego did and give them [the players] the blocks,” he explained.

Social structures seem to evolve in spite of this system, rather than because of it. Another designer wished that MMOG game design could be more influenced by Will Wright (creator of The Sims) than by Gary Gygax (creator of Dungeons & Dragons).

The root of the issue is that players will do whatever they’re rewarded for doing. And it’s easy to reward monster-bashing; it’s a simple, elegant system that’s worked in games for decades. It’s much more difficult to reward other kinds of activities without players abusing the system.


“We’re building games with too many moving parts!” … “Hideously complex games that are impossible to balance.” Her argument ultimately wasn’t that games should be simple, just that they needed to be elegant and easy to understand.

… an intuitive sampling service to get people hooked on the game world. “Like liquid crack,” he said.

Categories
Perl

A Sig

It is by Perl alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the regex of Larry that the code acquires flexibility, the flexibility enables obscurity, the obscurity generates a warning. It is by Perl alone I set my mind in motion.

Calle Dybedahl, in the Scary Devil Monastery

Found in genehack‘s sig

Categories
Perl

A Sig

It is by Perl alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the regex of Larry that the code acquires flexibility, the flexibility enables obscurity, the obscurity generates a warning. It is by Perl alone I set my mind in motion.

Calle Dybedahl, in the Scary Devil Monastery

Found in genehack‘s sig

Categories
Site News

Why The Outage

UFies.org

Newsflash – 3/23/2002
Wow, this is bad hardware karma!

Which reminds me to give arcterex a big thanks for all the work on getting everythign back up.

Categories
Site News

Why The Outage

UFies.org

Newsflash – 3/23/2002
Wow, this is bad hardware karma!

Which reminds me to give arcterex a big thanks for all the work on getting everythign back up.

Categories
Quotes

Man of Constant Sorrow

I am a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where i was born and raised
For six long yeasr i’ve been in trouble
No pleasure here on earth i’ve found
For in this owrld i’m bound to ranble
I have no friends to help him out
Its fare thee well my only lover
I never expect to see you again
For i’ve bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps i’ll die upon that train
You can bury me in Sunny Valley
For many years where i may lay
Then you may learn to learn another
While I am sleeping in my grave
Maybe your friends think i’m just a stranger
A face you’ll never see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I’ll meet you on God’s golden shore

Man of Constant Sorrow from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Categories
Quotes

Man of Constant Sorrow

I am a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where i was born and raised
For six long yeasr i’ve been in trouble
No pleasure here on earth i’ve found
For in this owrld i’m bound to ranble
I have no friends to help him out
Its fare thee well my only lover
I never expect to see you again
For i’ve bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps i’ll die upon that train
You can bury me in Sunny Valley
For many years where i may lay
Then you may learn to learn another
While I am sleeping in my grave
Maybe your friends think i’m just a stranger
A face you’ll never see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I’ll meet you on God’s golden shore

Man of Constant Sorrow from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Categories
Quotes

Malice

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.

Napoleon

[via How To Write Unmaintainable Code]

Categories
Quotes

Malice

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.

Napoleon

[via How To Write Unmaintainable Code]