Profile: LackeyZero
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| Username | LackeyZero  |
| Real Name | |
| Rank | Apprentice Member |
| Joined | December 6, 2004 |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | (hidden) |
| Location | Huntington Beach, CA, United States |
| Last Visit | July 25, 2008 |
| Post Count | 554 |
| Biography | |
| Quote |
Latest Blog Entry - Perception is Everything
From my blog It's All Fun in Games [LordDarkmist]
I hope we can all agree that things are not fun or enjoyable if they aren’t interesting to us. Let examine some things that interests us. For instance, the things that celebrities do are more interesting and significant to many of us, than what Average Joe does over there. Or what Harry Potter does in the book or movie. Or a protagonist, antagonist, etc… Anything that somehow appears more important or significant than it really is… The point is that we perceive it as so, and think more into it. Therefore, it is fun. And these interests are all shaped by our life experiences and culture. Secondly, we are all innately selfish, so anything dealing with us is, also, significant and important. Anyhow, there are things we consider more meaningful than others.
This brings me to another point. We all create expectations at one time or another. And it’s part of the reason why we consider something is more important than another, because we expect it to be more important, either now or to some future circumstance. I read an article on superstition months ago, which spoke about an experiment, done some time around the 1950s, where pigeons were rewarded with food no matter what they did; the birds all made up different rituals as they believed it was necessary in order to be rewarded (e.g. bobbing their heads, walking in circles, etc.). Therefore, it is possible to lead us into thinking a certain way, even if we are the ones that lead ourselves into thinking that particular way. Because MMOs are very much about the experience and perception of the players, these things need to be taken into consideration by developers. It’s not important what actually literally goes on inside the game; what is most important is what goes on in the mind of the players and how they interpret it—is it significant!? What I am proclaiming is that developers can do so much with this idea to improve the experience and enjoyment of the players. Developers can design games in such a way so that players believe there is more to the game than there actually is (e.g. having, both, secret locked dungeons that can be unlocked and can’t be unlocked will lead some players to believe that it is somehow possible to unlock the ones that are only aesthetically there… however, players will eventually doubt its existence if contents aren’t continually updated to guide the players to believe so…). These things are great and they have existed in previous MMOs, even if the developers never realized it. You’d know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever heard of any rumors created by the community in MMOs.
All said and done… Developers need to focus on the players’ experience, as perception is everything…
Read more from my blog [LordDarkmist]
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Recent Forum Posts [more...]
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- comic-con impressions of WAR and DC Universe (pt.1)
tells it as it is...
Seeing the trailer on gamespot, DC Universe Online's animation is absolutely horrible. It's like a 2 frame animation that you get from games that were on the atari.
What's wrong with these developers or publisher... unworthy of presentation...
- Posted: 7/25/08 3:53 PM
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