tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post7822766029673306044..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: Magic Wands That WorkAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-10906137869616080302011-04-13T11:44:27.379-06:002011-04-13T11:44:27.379-06:00I appreciate all that, Shield, and I'll avoid ...I appreciate all that, Shield, and I'll avoid a snipey comment. I only wish to make it clear that I did not make any connection between 'getting paid for one's work' and waving the magic wand.<br /><br />I have no idea how MMOs work. For that matter, I have no idea how a computer word processor works, either. But I'm an old man, and I remember very clearly being told once upon a time that things that are in existence right now were technologically infeasible.<br /><br />That's not to dismiss your argument. There are many, many things that have been said to be infeasible that continue to prove to be just that. So for all I know, you could be exactly right in your statements of what an MMO will or won't do.<br /><br />But if I may be tolerated for one more paragraph: I didn't actually say that the future of RPG's would be comprised of MMOs. What I said was that computerized game design would make what we are doing now seem pretty stupid. I have no idea - and I suspect that you have no idea, either - what marvelous things may pop up that make MMOs look pretty stupid, too.<br /><br />But hey, I work on my own world too, don't I? You don't think I'm advocating not doing that, do you?<br /><br />Shield, I love a long, detailed comment. Keep those coming.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-13593983584296273692011-04-13T11:08:50.970-06:002011-04-13T11:08:50.970-06:00I find your perception of professional game design...I find your perception of professional game designers for MMOs very strange indeed, because I am one. I still come home at night and scrape for time to work on my own worlds, session plans, and rules hacks. You write as if you think getting paid for one's work is the transformative factor that renders one incapable of speaking rationally.<br /><br />MMO designers know that MMOs accomplish some things well, such as having ten, forty, or five hundred players all striving toward the same goal. MMOs resolve their efforts in something that is microseconds shy of "real time." No tabletop system could do this, because the table cannot host five hundred players (all of the other problems simply follow from that).<br /><br />MMO designers also know that MMOs handle abysmally some of the things that tabletop games do well. World of Warcraft has pushed back boundaries in allowing its world to change, from the user's perspective, over the course of gameplay, but at its best it doesn't hold a candle to what even a novice tabletop GM can do. In some regards this will improve over the next forty years, but there are some logical barriers in place that supersede technological barriers: games simply won't allow one team of players to permanently ruin the gameplay experience of a theoretical future population of players. Because of their intended audience size, some consequences of actions are off the table, even if they were technologically feasible.<br /><br />Oh, and just to complete the trifecta, there are things that live-action roleplaying games do well that tabletop and computer games can't do. I'm not talking about the obvious "play outside" or "get exercise as part of play," though those are handy. I'm thinking of the way that live-action stealth mechanics (that is, hiding in the woods) are better than any simulationist system could hope to create. Live-action chase mechanics are excellent and always will be. MMOs will never have the immediacy of political conflict that LARPs manage (avatars create distance; that's the whole point), while tabletop games cannot really have political conflict played out between two sets of ten players over the course of fifteen or twenty individual, short conversations.<br /><br />None of these styles of play are going away. Doomsayers will be disappointed for decades to come. MMOs, oddly, are the most endangered, as they are the most expensive to create and maintain, and are therefore the most subject to the whims of the masses. Oh, and if the IRS ever <i>really</i> decides that it can lawfully tax the Ironforge Auction House, MMOs will be in a world of hurt.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13333781524640845035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-47840675473233310282011-04-13T04:07:29.803-06:002011-04-13T04:07:29.803-06:00@Arduin
You just need the right interface.
http:...@Arduin<br /><br />You just need the right interface.<br /><br />http://www.emotiv.com/The Rubberduckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12585052552943070379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-39757302451779340862011-04-12T16:45:38.409-06:002011-04-12T16:45:38.409-06:00I've had similar thoughts myself for some time...I've had similar thoughts myself for some time now.<br /><br />Maybe the most interesting part about it is that, ultimately, creating the utopia-space of roleplay is world building on an entirely different scale.<br /><br />I mean, to accomodate everything that could be roleplayed, one would need a program that could simulate -anything-. You would, in essence, need a model of the blinkin' universe.<br /><br />The only real stickler here is how to "emote" in 3d space. That's the one that puzzles me. The rest can be managed with sheer doggedness, but creating a usable interface for body language with an avatar is something I'm still boggling over.<br /><br />A great post as usual.Pandredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03917809464727878157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-80864812987802576372011-04-12T15:51:20.830-06:002011-04-12T15:51:20.830-06:00Very interesting... and as usual inspires me to ge...Very interesting... and as usual inspires me to get back to work on my own designs.Son of a Butchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16649551955824505259noreply@blogger.com