Comments on: Monday Mailbag: full body controls, racism, forums, education, & design docs http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/ Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:02:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bajeezushttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123401 Bajeezus Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:52:27 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123401 OK, so now that we have the magic forumla for the mmo design doc, we can crank out mmos like aerosol cheese, right. ;) OK, maybe not, but I copied your format over to our forums and I'm trying to get everyone to fill one in with their own MMO idea. We'll see how many I can get to play the new "dev home game". :) OK, so now that we have the magic forumla for the mmo design doc, we can crank out mmos like aerosol cheese, right. ;)

OK, maybe not, but I copied your format over to our forums and I’m trying to get everyone to fill one in with their own MMO idea. We’ll see how many I can get to play the new “dev home game”. :)

]]> By: Independent Creator » Blog Archive » Koster’s Mailbaghttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123350 Independent Creator » Blog Archive » Koster’s Mailbag Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:41:26 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123350 [...] Koster just posted a ton of responses to visitor mail.  It’s quite good, actually– he takes questions that in some cases [...]

[...] Koster just posted a ton of responses to visitor mail.  It’s quite good, actually– he takes questions that in some cases [...]

]]> By: Aaronhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123344 Aaron Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:55:40 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123344 Though I don't expect to see full-body gaming in at least the next 20 years (if ever), I would think a suspension system would work better than an all-direction treadmill. The gamer would need to be suspended comfortably from the waist or torso, so the leg movement would feel semi-natural. Perhaps something would be needed under the feet to keep the legs from tiring though. It would be interesting to see how people moved their legs and how the leg muscles would respond if the visual simulation told the gamer they were moving through elevation changes. As for unintended racism in game races, I think the colors are not so much due to historical stereotypes as they are due to darkness and light as classic, universal symbols of evil and good. A shadowy coloration will almost always feel more sinister or secretive than brighter colors. Though I don’t expect to see full-body gaming in at least the next 20 years (if ever), I would think a suspension system would work better than an all-direction treadmill. The gamer would need to be suspended comfortably from the waist or torso, so the leg movement would feel semi-natural. Perhaps something would be needed under the feet to keep the legs from tiring though. It would be interesting to see how people moved their legs and how the leg muscles would respond if the visual simulation told the gamer they were moving through elevation changes.

As for unintended racism in game races, I think the colors are not so much due to historical stereotypes as they are due to darkness and light as classic, universal symbols of evil and good. A shadowy coloration will almost always feel more sinister or secretive than brighter colors.

]]> By: Tom Hudsonhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123338 Tom Hudson Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:38:29 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123338 You could do the holodeck in a small room in RL. See http://www.cs.unc.edu/~sharif/ and http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/~eve/rdw/ - Sharif's PhD showed that you can have people walk in circles while they thought they were walking in straight lines. You could do the holodeck in a small room in RL. See http://www.cs.unc.edu/~sharif/ and http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/~eve/rdw/ – Sharif’s PhD showed that you can have people walk in circles while they thought they were walking in straight lines.

]]> By: External Newshttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123332 External News Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:37:18 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123332 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Monday Mailbag [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%-->

[...] Monday Mailbag [...]

]]> By: Fabledhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123330 Fabled Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:23:11 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123330 Further research a company in 2000 attempted to make the same type of data gloves for modern computers called P5 gloves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P5_Glove, it never became popular (or else we'd have heard of it). Further research a company in 2000 attempted to make the same type of data gloves for modern computers called P5 gloves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P5_Glove, it never became popular (or else we’d have heard of it).

]]> By: Fabledhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123329 Fabled Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:17:36 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123329 Remember Nintendo's Power Glove ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Glove I wanted one of those when I was a kid back in the early 80s but never got one due to it being really expensive. The gadget didn't caught on either (because only 2 games were ever made for it) so the company who made it PAX eventually declared bankrupcy, I think that gadget was too early for it's time. If someone still had that gadget and is tech savvy they could probably modify it to work for modern computers. Remember Nintendo’s Power Glove ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Glove I wanted one of those when I was a kid back in the early 80s but never got one due to it being really expensive. The gadget didn’t caught on either (because only 2 games were ever made for it) so the company who made it PAX eventually declared bankrupcy, I think that gadget was too early for it’s time. If someone still had that gadget and is tech savvy they could probably modify it to work for modern computers.

]]> By: Tesshttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123315 Tess Tue, 05 Jun 2007 07:50:23 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123315 I've always wondered the same thing about the holodeck. Actually, as I've mentioned before, I've been looking for a way to rig my dancepad up to do WoW combat hotkeys. I think I need to grab one of these, first, though: http://www.alphagrips.com/ That would let me type while standing up and moving around. :) I’ve always wondered the same thing about the holodeck.

Actually, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been looking for a way to rig my dancepad up to do WoW combat hotkeys. I think I need to grab one of these, first, though: http://www.alphagrips.com/ That would let me type while standing up and moving around. :)

]]> By: Fabledhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123310 Fabled Tue, 05 Jun 2007 06:54:49 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123310 I read your book "A Theory of Fun" Raph and I love the book and have learned a lot from it. In chapter 1 of the book I summarized it as "once the human mind has solved a certain pattern of problems easily, it recieves less and less satisfaction from solving the same type of problems in the future leading to boredom." I think this theory holds true "that's why some people gets bored of a certain type of game easier than others (because everyone's brain function somewhat differently)". So what if somehow someone can design a game that alternates different types of problem solving (such as one point of the game could be a puzzle game, another point can be a shooter, while another part can be a simulation game as examples) faced with varied challenges the mind of the player then won't get bored as easily as before prolonging the "life" of the game. I read your book “A Theory of Fun” Raph and I love the book and have learned a lot from it. In chapter 1 of the book I summarized it as “once the human mind has solved a certain pattern of problems easily, it recieves less and less satisfaction from solving the same type of problems in the future leading to boredom.” I think this theory holds true “that’s why some people gets bored of a certain type of game easier than others (because everyone’s brain function somewhat differently)”. So what if somehow someone can design a game that alternates different types of problem solving (such as one point of the game could be a puzzle game, another point can be a shooter, while another part can be a simulation game as examples) faced with varied challenges the mind of the player then won’t get bored as easily as before prolonging the “life” of the game.

]]> By: Raphhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/comment-page-1/#comment-123307 Raph Tue, 05 Jun 2007 03:56:50 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/06/04/monday-mailbag/#comment-123307 I didn't say appeal SOLELY to cynical jaded people. :) In games, today's newbies are always tomorrow's jaded people. The genre cycle basically guarantees it. The difference between a newbie WoW player and a burned out EQ player is mostly time, not inclination. I didn’t say appeal SOLELY to cynical jaded people. :)

In games, today’s newbies are always tomorrow’s jaded people. The genre cycle basically guarantees it. The difference between a newbie WoW player and a burned out EQ player is mostly time, not inclination.

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