From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 2: TTP and the Thermostat Approach.

See Part 1


TTP and the Thermostat Approach

Of course the approach of giving users large amounts of power poses potential risks and monumental challenges in any virtual world. When at least 10% of your base plays as idiots and griefers, you have to expect that they will try to fuck up your game in any way they can imagine. When one of the panel's audience mentions "Sporn" and how user generated content definitely involves a large amount of the lowest common denominator, Dave Williams immediately mentions that his team likes to keep track of TTP: "time to penis" when allowing users free rein over their environment. If they can do it, they will do it. "Always have a griefer on your team" was a sound piece of advice. When you know the worst that can happen, you can prepare for that eventuality. Howver, if player created penises are your biggest concern, you're probably doing pretty well.

When another audience member frets that he expects that any world he creates that allows permanent user change will end a charred universe within hours, Dave's response hints at his engineering background; he recommendes implementing a creation/destruction negative feedback loop. "The more you destroy, the harder it becomes to destroy and the easier it becomes to build afresh." Razing a village? The next one will require twice the army strength. Keep in mind that your universe can be somewhat self-correcting and regulating. You can control some fundamental aspects of the world using ultimate hard and fast rules. Basically, you can't destroy Ironforge. Period.


Don't Make Your Players Bore Themselves Into Quitting


While the next piece of advice from Ed and Dave strays considerably from the previous sections relating to persistance and the delicate balance of flexibility and survivability, it's probably equally important to keep in mind when trying to create engaging, long-lasting, virtual worlds.


Path of least resistance will be the path most often taken. If the grind is the easiest way to max out your level that is what people will do. If there is one path that is super interesting and challenging and involves several story elements, but happens to be 5% less efficient than an epic mindless murloc slaughter which achieves the same endpoint, guess what players will do. Ultimately, this is your fault. As a world builder, creating the balance between effort, engagement and fun is difficult, but should be a high priority. You are competing for a players’ continued time, so if they accomplish their goal, but hate every second of it, they won’t continue playing. You pretty much fail at your ultimate objective, which is to keep people playing.


Soon to be Concluded: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 3: Subtle Psychological Encouragement, Player Manipulation and You