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Online Worlds Roundtable #12, Pt. 1 @ RPG Vault
by Dhruin, 2006-09-05 22:39:00
Quite some time since the last, RPG Vault has published their latest Online Worlds Roundtable, with Stieg Hedlund, Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg, Magnus Bergsson from CCP, Mike Goslin from Disney VR Studio and Claus Grovdal from Aventurine all offering comments on "whether current games in the category are too complex". Here's a bit from Stieg:I think it would be pretty hard to "over-design" something; the more thought and care put into reinforcement and affordance (game designer jargon that means presenting the opportunities and the support for particular types of gameplay) of the player experience, including supporting different play styles and areas of interest, the more fulfilling and entertaining that work should become. However, I think I can guess what is meant by this idea, that more attention is paid to creating complex, highly detailed systems without an eye toward the way they are consumed by the player or how they stand in relationship to the experience as a whole, which I would agree, is a big problem. However, instead of diagnosing this as over-designed, I'd say there hasn't been enough design... at least not the right kind.