[gameprogrammer] Re: MMO Idea

At 08:19 AM 12/20/2005, you wrote: 
I hear you all, and some of your points are good and I will consider how to
fit them in.  I still think everyone is getting too hung up on comparing a
corporation to a real-life.  People are assuming this means managers don't
do the fun stuff or that the guys who want to do the fun stuff get stuck
doing the menial labor.


Laurence,

We get it. But what you're talking about is essentially bureaucracy vs freedom in a game universe. Guess which one works better? Even systems with very simplistic game bureaucracies (one commander per team) are fraught with huge, not easily solvable problems. I recommend you go out and play Allegiance ( http://www.freeallegiance.org/ ) right now. The best thing you can do when embarking on a project like this is play everything currently available that's like it, or implements similar systems.

From my experience in Allegiance: You can't make "peons" do what you want as commander. You can't ensure that the most qualified player gets commander. Voting is problematic. Commander positions can be abused. And the learning curve is horribly high, because its not just a game that people have to learn, they have to learn the system. This presents a rather large barrier to entry for new players.

Ask yourself what is most fun for the most amount of players in your game. And then seriously think upon how your bureaucratic system might limit that. And then ask yourself if its really a good game idea, or just something you think might be cool to have in a game.






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