Only Raph gets away with this stuff. Why?
Honor thy ancestors, for they solved most of thy design problems.
Oh, OK then.
They’re all pretty dead on, by the way. Even if he violated more than a few in his career. THAT’S HOW YOU LEARN!
Ultima 3: Exodus 20:1-17: In which Moses comes down from the mountain and sees the users cavorting amongst level-based systems
Comments are closed.
How Am I Wasting My Time?
#1 by Rasputin on July 3rd, 2006
Because why get bogged down in details like “Why I Shouldn’t Use Oracle for my Unique Item ID Backend Database?”
#2 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
Not like stuff like Oracle is a choice I would get to make. They don’t let us non-technically savvy designer-types in the room on those meetings.
#3 by Amaranthar on July 3rd, 2006
Wasn’t that Mo Zzs ?
#4 by Michael Neel on July 3rd, 2006
I do get the feeling MMOs have never moved beyond UO’s feature set, so 10 does make sense to me.
Number three needs to be for any company making a “level cap raising” expansion. When expansions that reset my level come out, well, that’s normally been the time I stop playing. Patches that reset your gear are also a bad idea.
(Yes, I’m looking at you Blizzard)
#5 by Rasputin on July 3rd, 2006
I heart you anyway Raph. It’s like looking in a mirror.
#6 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
You mean, with much preening? Oh wait.
#7 by scottj on July 3rd, 2006
Raph: http://sonyonline.com/corp/company_info/Bios/raph_koster2004.jpg
Ras: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raspuinaxp/172404153/in/set-72157594173564478/
#8 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
Ack. It’s like the idealized version of me, with less weight, a more rakish beard, less Ewok factor, and less fame and power.
No, wait.
#9 by Rasputin on July 3rd, 2006
I avoid preening to the point where I use Old Spice Hair & Body Wash because one step is better than two in the shower.
#10 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
Once you are washing your body with something liquid as opposed to a bar of soap, you have taken an irretrievable, irredeemable step into the gaping abyss.
The other extreme of rectitude is to wash your hair with a bar soap. Something I have been known to do when in dire straits.
#11 by scottj on July 3rd, 2006
This comments thread has certainly taken a turn for the metrosexual.
#12 by Rasputin on July 3rd, 2006
Given the choice of washing my mick-guinea hair with bar or liquid soap, I’ll go with the liquid.
And I’m not so sure about the Ewok factor…I’m probably shorter than you are.
#13 by scottj on July 3rd, 2006
Raph, bear in mind your hair care tips are being criticized by this guy.
#14 by Savagex on July 3rd, 2006
Hey actually if you wash you are ahead of most Con-goers
#15 by blachawk on July 3rd, 2006
And if you pop your whiteheads you’ll really stand out from the crowd.
#16 by slog on July 3rd, 2006
I dont see Fashion and grooming tips as one of the commandments.
#17 by Savagex on July 3rd, 2006
Indeed. Deodorant is your friend.
derail ++?
#18 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
This comment thread now has more comments than the original. Stop. Go over there. I am sure that’s why Scott reblogged it, to drive traffic to me, the smaller struggling website.
#19 by Savagex on July 3rd, 2006
Are you sure? I think he was looking for grooming tips to share with his Dev team.
#20 by Rasputin on July 3rd, 2006
But I thought you had fame and power, Raph! Don’t disillusion me like this!
#21 by scottj on July 3rd, 2006
> Are you sure? I think he was looking for grooming tips to
> share with his Dev team.
Are you kidding? They’re all fresh faced well groomed young men. Whereas I attract comments if I manage to shave before coming in.
#22 by Savagex on July 3rd, 2006
Ahh! Fresh meat to mold as you will! Very good!
#23 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
To mold meat, you must usually grind it up first.
#24 by chabuhi on July 3rd, 2006
Rasputin is Robert Pastorelli?
#25 by Big Gulp on July 3rd, 2006
“Thou shalt not mistake online worlds for games, for they encompass far more; nor shalt thou forget that play is noble, and game is no epithet.”
The beginning of this “commandment” sums up for me why I consider Raph to be a failed game designer. I’ve seen “online worlds”, and they suck. They suck horribly, because no matter who clever and brilliant you think you are, you will never replicate the real world in one of these games. Furthermore, since games are an escape, why would you want to replicate the real world, or even a reasonable fascimile of one?
Raph could stand to learn the lesson of GAME CREATION, rather than WORLD CREATION. Games are fun, online worlds, not so much.
#26 by Elistor on July 3rd, 2006
“Games are fun, online worlds, not so much.” Ahh yes because it’s so much more fun to kill the same static rat that respawns on the same game tile every 45sec than to actually need to wander through the woods hunting game. Yes I can see how online worlds add no fun.
#27 by scottj on July 3rd, 2006
Worlds can be made very fun games.
Very fun games may or may not have worldly components.
I personally like games that are worlds and vice versa. It’s very cool to have your actions reflect beyond yourself and to have the environment respond in a rational manner.
#28 by Raph on July 3rd, 2006
“nor shalt thou consider thy sort of fun to be the only sort of fun to be had, for many and mysterious are the ways of enjoyment.”
#29 by Elistor on July 3rd, 2006
Sigh, Scott and Raph said what I meant with a lot less confrontation. One day I’ll learn.
#30 by Xyntar on July 3rd, 2006
“Furthermore, since games are an escape, why would you want to replicate the real world, or even a reasonable fascimile of one?”
The idea isn’t to replicate the real world, it’s to create a fantasy world in which dragons, or space monsters, or whatever exist, but in a world that actually functions. It’s not just a brightly colored chessboard skinned to make it different from the other chessboards, which is what games like WoW are to me. They aren’t fun in the slightest anymore, but I don’t call them failures. Obviously a lot of people enjoy them, a lot of my friends enjoy them. I don’t, but I’m glad people do. I’m all for people having fun.
#31 by Boanerges on July 3rd, 2006
I’m still trying to figure out where Raph’s commandments fit in with the SOE Development Model (and yes, that was taken at SOE HQ).
#32 by almagill on July 3rd, 2006
Got to love KosterR
Commandments, Rules for being a better designer AND grooming tips. Who else would have brought stuff like that to the party?
#33 by Amaranthar on July 3rd, 2006
“Commandments, Rules for being a better designer AND grooming tips. Who else would have brought stuff like that to the party?”
Ohhh, so this is a tupperware party!
MMOs these days remind me of pheasant shoots. You know, the kind where “hunters” line up, and the promoters release the pheasants from cages and they all fly into the air, the everyone bags their limit. Try to tell them it’s not fun.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of hunters go trampsing all over gods half acre to do their hunting. They aren’t at the pheasant shoot to be heard.
#34 by Jessica Mulligan on July 3rd, 2006
OK, that thread went from games to hair so fast, I got a nosebleed.
#35 by Psychochild on July 3rd, 2006
The world needs more hair care blogs.
#36 by SirBruce on July 4th, 2006
Sometimes I’ve considered electrolysis just to avoid the hassle of shaving. But it’s not exactly a fun procedure.
#37 by Andrew Crystall on July 4th, 2006
Big Gulp, I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick there…
A VW is not necessarily a game, there are quite a few non-game VW’s out there now.
#38 by Grinless on July 4th, 2006
Elistor wrote: ” Ahh yes because it\’e2\’80\’99s so much more fun to kill the same static rat that respawns on the same game tile every 45sec than to actually need to wander through the woods hunting game. Yes I can see how online worlds add no fun. “
If hunting through the wood is a 15 mins timesink of blind searching without any interesting decisions (aka as fun) then yes give me the static spawning game please.
I hate the “static” aspect of game as much as the next one, but a designer must very careful about repeating the post WoW/CoH pattern: 15 mins of boring timesink for 2 minutes of actual gameplay.
#39 by D-0ne on July 4th, 2006
Eventually someone comes along and commits blasphemy, is ridiculed and only after his death does the world acknowledge he was right.
And so it shall be in online games.
Not that Raph is wrong.
Something is inherently not being done right. And it’s driving me crazy(er).
#40 by D-0ne on July 4th, 2006
“Meanwhile, the vast majority of hunters go trampsing all over gods half acre to do their hunting. They aren\’e2\’80\’99t at the pheasant shoot to be heard.”
Great analogy!
As to the SOE dev photo… I’ve seen similar things when developing drugs. Normally, some idiot from some financial department needs 40 hours of planning and writing simplified beyond the, simple one page outline on the cover and well 30 pages of hard work end up looking like that.
#41 by Morgan Ramsay on July 4th, 2006
This thread is strange.
#42 by J. on July 4th, 2006
Did Raph just admit he looks like an Ewok?
Or that Rasputin is better looking than he is?
#43 by Rasputin on July 4th, 2006
I say both.
#44 by Amaranthar on July 5th, 2006
“Eventually someone comes along and commits blasphemy, is ridiculed and only after his death does the world acknowledge he was right.
And so it shall be in online games.
Not that Raph is wrong.
Something is inherently not being done right. And it\’e2\’80\’99s driving me crazy(er).”
Raph, your demise in a simulated world will do so don’t get hasty or anything.
Raph Hunting! They look like ewoks, only they bath with bar soap.
#45 by Double D on July 5th, 2006
Any tips on healthy nails? My fingernails are nasty
#46 by SirBruce on July 5th, 2006
Don’t chew your nails. It’s a nasty habit and bad for you. Beyond that, just use a nailclipper and nailfile to keep ‘em clean and not too long.
Bruce
#47 by Allen Sligar on July 5th, 2006
“MMOs these days remind me of pheasant shoots. You know, the kind where \’e2\’80\’9chunters\’e2\’80\’9d line up, and the promoters release the pheasants from cages and they all fly into the air, the everyone bags their limit. Try to tell them it\’e2\’80\’99s not fun. “
“Meanwhile, the vast majority of hunters go trampsing all over gods half acre to do their hunting. They aren\’e2\’80\’99t at the pheasant shoot to be heard.”
So what your saying is that perhaps Dick Cheney should get into game design? He was pretty good about changing up the rulesets for hunting, albeit in a perculiar manner (getting drunk) that maybe wasnt as popular as it could have been (and shooting lawyers). I mean if he can change the entire paradigm of hunting maybe he can do something about games too! (or even hair care products!)
#48 by Amaranthar on July 5th, 2006
Hehe, last night I was watching The History Channel, and it had a segment about the famous duel between Hamilton and Burr, early american history times. They mentioned it would be like having Chaney and (someone, forget who) dueling, due to the same offices they hold.
That struck the humor bone.
#49 by Heartless Gamer on July 5th, 2006
\’e2\’80\’9cnor shalt thou consider thy sort of fun to be the only sort of fun to be had, for many and mysterious are the ways of enjoyment.\’e2\’80\’9d
My guess is this one will get a lot of travel around the internet… flame wars be damned.
#50 by No.6 on July 7th, 2006
“Thou shalt not make thy world a place for players to do real harm unto one another, or for thee to do harm unto players.”
Somehow I think this ought to be bumped up a bit, although there is a certain rightness in it being at Number 6
I’ve rarely seen a MMORPG design where this is truly implemented. Oddly, though, the games which (IMO) come closest to this ideal are also some of the least popular.
Perhaps it’s because game designers think in terms of fun and enjoyment whereas (many) players think in terms of profit (RL) and, protected by the anonymity of the ‘net, opportunities to inflict woe on others. A truly significant portion of the gaming population appears to be driven by the desire to turn every “game” into Lord of the Flies Online.
Either that, or I’m being unduly cynical about humanity this morning.