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Old 01-28-2005, 02:08 PM   #8
the_logos
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Join Date: Sep 2002
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Similarly, you're free to give them the choice of which quests to do. This isn't a black and white issue. It's a matter of range. Developers are constantly 'forcing' players to do things by virtue of what they choose to include as possible and what they choose not to include as possible. On a very basic level, most games force players to choose a race, for instance.

Similarly, some VERY popular MUDs (Everquest, for instance) require that you do a specific quest or kill a specific monster in order to get a specific piece of equipment. They're "forcing" you to do a single activity in order to get that piece of equipment.

And yet the most popular MUDs out there (Legends of Mir, Worlds of Warcraft, Lineage II, etc) are some of the most restrictive in terms of what you can do. None of them really reward you for any playstyle other than "hack and slash."

I mean I agree that it seems intuitive that you'd want to appeal to a wide range of playstyles, but experience shows it's not necessary.

Further, all I was taking issue with was Molly's claim that "forcing players to do things...detracts from the fun." I think the RPIs that force people to roleplay (which is an activity, albeit it a very broad one), for instance, would certainly disagree with that. Or take another random example: City of Heroes. 150,000 subscribers or so. They force you to do certain quests at the beginning of the game in order to continue to play.

--matt
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