Design Principles Flashcards

Question

What are skills? How do you develop them?

Answer 1

The basic idea is that you define your character in terms of what it can do - this is its skill set. They have to be learned before they are available and then trained (through a specific action or spun off from an XP/Level system.

Answer 2

– Binary - either you can speak elvish or you can’t – Discrete - You can speak elvish in one of these ways: not at all (0), a few words (1), conversational (2), fluently (3) – Continuous - people can SPEAK ELVISH with a wide range of ability, from none at all to complete competence. – Binary-continuous - either you can't speak it, or you can with a wide range of competence.

Answer 3

``` By creating them and giving them stats + costemics. Almost all MMOs require gender and avatar look (race and class are popular too). ```

Answer 4

Fixed – The same for everyone of that race/class. Random – Server rolls dice. Pick points – You get points to allocate where you want them. Kits – Choose a pre-balanced initialisation. Questionnaires – From hypothetical questions about what you would do, your character details are divined. Observation – Computer watches what you do then proposes your initial class/skills. Tabula rasa – You Construct your character’s past, from which the computer constructs your character’s present. Essay – Once used for textual role-playing worlds.

Answer 5

Combat is an important feature. It has conflict, drama, risk, bravery, friendship, honour, glory – something for everyone. The basic form that combat takes hasn’t really changed since MUD1.

Answer 6

– The attacker initiates combat – An automated sequence of blow exchanges begins (melee) – While this is going on, players can take other actions to affect the outcome – Chance to hit is based on dexterity/agility – Damage dealt is based on strength – Damage taken comes off stamina/health – When stamina falls below 1, fight ends.

Answer 7

– Equaliser weapons – six-guns – Weapon mismatch – sword versus musket – Over-robust defence – newbie versus sleeping old-timer – Concurrency – how many creatures can you fight at once? – Targeting – aim at individuals or points? – Area effects – grenades that miss your team – Twitch – latency too much of a factor – Disengagement – end fight without death?

Answer 8

When a character dies it is obliterated from the database.

Answer 9

Having permadeath: People really do not like it when it happens to their character. Not having permadeath: • Players who are first into positions of power remain there • Characters bunch up at the end – And “the end” has to have new content added to it all the time • It undermines achievement • You only experience content once • It (usually but not always) breaks the fiction • Players can’t handle griefers themselves

Answer 10

Companions are NPCs belonging to the player but under AI control. Pets do not count they are cosmetic usually.

Answer 11

They can help immersion up to a point, but then they rapidly work against it. Companions are basically unimmersive - Players buy into the fiction that their own character is a real person but companions as drones.

Answer 12

Brian Sutton-Smith.

Answer 13

``` 7 (called rhetorics). – Play as progress – Play as fate – Play as power – Play as identity – Play as the imaginary – Play as self – Play as frivolous ```

Answer 14

It's the feeling that you are in a virtual world. It involves cutting off the external world – Concentration, Physical separation.

Answer 15

Virtual worlds are immersive because of presence. This is the perceptual illusion that a mediated experience is not mediated ( you’re not typing at a keyboard, you’re talking to someone )

Answer 16

Community. This is the sense players have of collective belonging.

Answer 17

``` – Single or multiple? – Formal or informal? – Temporary or persistent? – Flat or hierarchical? – Hardwired or softwired? ```

Answer 18

• Party – temporary, formal, softwired, usually flat casual adventuring band – Also group, team, fellowship, ... • Guild – persistent, formal, softwired, hierarchical social network of disparate players – Also kinship, clan, corporation, cabal, ... • Alliance – temporary, usually informal, softwired collections of guilds acting as if they were one • Faction – persistent, hardwired separation of players and NPCs, typically for pvp purposes

Answer 19

– Communication – Get this by default in vws – Community of interest – People with same goals/interests group – Community of practice – Share knowledge and pool resources – Community of commitment – Members work together on projects important to the community, not individuals – Spiritual community – Individual members know and trust each other implicitly

Design Principles Flashcards

(43 cards)