<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts --> <!--X-From-R13: "Qnyvona Fverfvnf Rnexybpx" <pnyvonaNqnexybpx.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 13:53:39 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 014501be44be$dc841030$55e5edd0@dev-18.chilisoft.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00233.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00234.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00166.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00234.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00231">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00231">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00231">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Caliban Tiresias Darklock" <<A HREF="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 13:49:42 -0800</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> -----Original Message----- From: Hal Black <hal#moos,ml.org> To: mud-dev#kanga,nu <mud-dev#kanga,nu> Date: Wednesday, January 20, 1999 1:04 PM Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts >On Wed, Jan 13, 1999 at 04:32:16PM -0800, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote: > >> The power of two: > >I'll argue against this one. I believe there is something from psychology >that says something different. [...] For some reason, psychology tests tell us >that partial reinforcement is a better training tool than total reinforcement! >So, not only do people not find fault with somewhat inconsistent results, they >are more likely to try it more often given that it works some of the time! Perhaps it would be more correct to say that this applies more strongly to negative results than positive ones. If you win the lottery sometimes, then people will be okay with it. If you die horribly for no real reason sometimes, people will scream and gripe and complain forever. Then again, maybe this rule is completely fallacious. >> How benchmarks are built: > >This certainly is true of the computer industry. 8') Sun committed the unforgivable sin of benchmarks with Java. They waited till someone built an independent benchmark, and then hardcoded their VM to perform incredibly well on it. Remember when they were advertising several times the performance of Microsoft? The benchmark creator quite rightly recognised that this was not accurate -- because from real-world observation, he could see that Sun's JVM was NOT that much faster than Microsoft's -- and delved into it. When they switched the order of two comparisons in a test, Sun's score on that test -- and only that test -- dropped by a factor of two hundred. Further investigation turned up Sun's trickery, which was reported in the media slightly before Sun wagged the dog and started making a lot of noise about the Microsoft VM being incompatible. I, for one, still remember this. There was a time when that serious an ethical breach would bankrupt most companies as people migrated en masse to other products in disgust. Sun still survives. Has anyone else noticed how closely the timeline in Cyberpunk:2020 matches the real world? Am I the only one disturbed by that? >> It's the thought that counts: > >So here's my attempt to hijack 2 minutes of your fame: Players >and Builders who feel a sense of ownership are more apt to accept shortcomings >(in simulation or otherwise) in a game than those with no sense of ownership. > 8') True. However, *specifying* those shortcomings will prevent any sense of ownership at all, which is sort of what I was getting at. >Otherwise, seems like a nice list of laws. I always like to hear the >anecdotes that people tell that taught them some of their lessons in game >design. Do you have any to share that spawned your list of laws? Mostly my own reactions to things, really. Sometimes it's applications of real world musings: the "twice is always" law came from leaving the toilet seat up twice shortly before I was married, following which I "always" left the toilet seat up. I had been very conscientious about this for over two years of prior cohabitation, and just happened to forget a couple times over the course of about a month. I believe Erma Bombeck also wrote something similar about this, because it seems to me that I *remembered* the phrase "twice is always" instead of just finding it appropriate. I do a lot of reading on marketing and psychology, as well. Most developers don't understand it to any great degree, which exasperates sales and marketing, who in turn annoy the hell out of developers because the two groups don't speak the same language. This was originally an effort to become the Indispensable Employee, but I actually started to *like* these fields... and I also discovered that an employee became even MORE indispensable if he simply bought donuts for the office twice a week. >Here's another attempt at a law I'll throw in: > The more responsive an admin is to user feedback of a given type, the more >the admin will get. Specifically, as an admin implements features from user >suggestions, more ideas for features will be submitted. Likewise, as an >admin coddles whining players, more whining ensues. My mother has this problem. She's in senior technical IS management at a major aerospace company. You would not BELIEVE some of the trivial crap her employees go around whinging about. | Caliban Tiresias Darklock caliban#darklock,com | Darklock Communications <A HREF="http://www.darklock.com/">http://www.darklock.com/</A> | U L T I M A T E U N I V E R S E I S N O T D E A D | 774577496C6C6E457645727355626D4974H -=CABAL::3146=- </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00233.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00234.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00166.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00234.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00231"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00231"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00186" HREF="msg00186.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Fri 15 Jan 1999, 04:55 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00163" HREF="msg00163.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 17:58 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00165" HREF="msg00165.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 19:04 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00166" HREF="msg00166.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 20:06 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00231" HREF="msg00231.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Wed 20 Jan 1999, 21:53 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00234" HREF="msg00234.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 20 Jan 1999, 22:26 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00151" HREF="msg00151.html">[MUD-Dev] Thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 00:36 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00160" HREF="msg00160.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 03:32 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00161" HREF="msg00161.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 13:57 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>