I would be remiss if I didn’t follow up my previous post with a new rule. I apologize to whomever if I am stealing this rule from someplace, but I haven’t been able to figure out reference to it. I very well may have found it somewhere previously and just forgotten where, or I came…Continue readingThe Average Hero Paradox
Three of Raph Koster’s MMO laws are explained that share a common theme in game design. This theme is why a player plays online games in particular. What do they want and what are they hoping to get out of their experience?Continue readingThe Laws of Player Justification
To continue on my line of game design laws for MMOs, I decided to make it easy on myself and just head straight into it and look at Raph’s first law of game design. This rule is actually four in one. I think the point of it was to get under your belt the four…Continue readingThe Online Games of Wide Appeal Law
It has been years since Raph Koster first collected the wisdom of various MMORPG enthusiasts and developers and wrote down a list of Laws of Online World Design. I don’t even think he has touched it for many years, I bet the last edit happened sometime after Dark Age of Camelot was released, given that…Continue readingNew Laws for MMO Design
Sony Online Entertainment announced their new micro-transaction model for both Everquest and Everquest 2 recently, deciding to take American MMORPGs in an entirely new direction. I can’t say that anyone in particular was surprised by the move. Sony has long been on the forefront at finding new ways to charge MMO players more money than they already were paying.Continue reading$OE Strikes Again
I have long been a proponent of death penalties in MMORPGs. Yeah they can sometimes be a harsh penalty that is rather off putting, but there are many reasons why the game design requires the death penalty to be there. Heck I still like the idea of permadeath although I think the time for that…Continue readingDeath Penalties