tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post8932773724006068994..comments2024-01-18T16:20:09.743+01:00Comments on Nils' Blog: Optimizing the Fun into ItNilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-58267034656612576472011-08-28T23:12:35.945+02:002011-08-28T23:12:35.945+02:00Some players have for years gathered herbs in WoW....<i>Some players have for years gathered herbs in WoW. Each time was fun for them, but certainly not novel.</i><br /><br />Actually, it can be novel in two ways.<br /><br />1) Novel in comparison to their daily lives. ("This is my me time.")<br /><br />2) A subset of 1) wherein the experience of pleasure is novel from one moment to the next even though the activity itself is predetermined. For example, a (good) massage can be novel even if you have had thousands of good massages, because you have never had a massage <i>at this precise moment</i> ("Can't cross the same river twice" etc). Pleasure never loses its novelty.*<br /><br /><br /><br />*This might be an issue of semantics, since you can obviously acclimate to certain levels of pleasure. If you are beaten every day, a day without injury is pleasurable.Azurielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581263347888757710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-91227135004311843932011-08-28T20:41:25.155+02:002011-08-28T20:41:25.155+02:00Not necessarily, Stabs. Some players have for year...Not necessarily, Stabs. Some players have for years gathered herbs in WoW. Each time was fun for them, but certainly not novel.<br /><br />Novelty just helps a lot with keeping the mind busy by satisfying curiosity; learning. Novelty is a powerful tool. No more.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-78467925355910935322011-08-28T20:27:07.568+02:002011-08-28T20:27:07.568+02:00Is fun essentially novelty then?Is fun essentially novelty then?Stabshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08716211705647213383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-41370073184117477742011-08-28T13:00:16.904+02:002011-08-28T13:00:16.904+02:00So do you think WoW would be more fun or less fun ...<i>So do you think WoW would be more fun or less fun for you had someone back then told you the formula (e.g. the one you ended up with)?</i><br /><br />Less, of course.<br /><br />---<br /><i>But if I ask "Which talent choices bring the most DPS while letting me do well in BGs too?" then EJ is merely giving me the tools I need to make an informed decision</i><br /><br />True, they didn't manage to optimize my fun away completely.<br /><br />---<br /><i>Besides, WoW is 95% execution of abilities, so "optimizing the fun out of the game" should not apply unless you dislike the player skill part of it. Which given the predilection of most RPG players (and MMO players), may actually be the case.</i><br /><br />That's true. My player skill is just the combination of my genes and my time investment. Boring, right ?<br /><br />I'll make a special post for you, tomorrow, Azuriel ;)Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-42527823765424697072011-08-28T12:51:37.102+02:002011-08-28T12:51:37.102+02:00So, one day, I started asking in the official WoW ...<i>So, one day, I started asking in the official WoW forums, what the formula for this is.</i><br /><br />So do you think WoW would be more fun or less fun for you had someone back then told you the formula (e.g. the one you ended up with)?<br /><br />I personally never enjoy the number-crunching part - it never made sense to spend a lot of time on a problem someone had already figured out. So the way EJ <i>doesn't</i> "optimize the fun out" (to me) is exactly what you questioned later:<br /><br /><i>Also, having the formula was only the first step. What probability of dying to a consecutive row of how many hits was acceptable? 1/25th?</i><br /><br />If I ask the question, "Which talent choices bring the most DPS?" then yes, EJ does all the work and I copy & paste. But if I ask "Which talent choices bring the most DPS while letting me do well in BGs too?" then EJ is merely giving me the tools I need to make an informed decision. As a paladin, I have Prot main spec for tanking and Ret spec for DPS <i>and</i> BG/Arena. The talent Sanctity of Battle is 100% useless in PvP, and could give me some juicy options if I skip it. But how much DPS will I lose in raiding? There is zero way to ever figure that out without EJ, sims and addons. Once I know the answer, I can make an informed decision about whether <i>I personally</i> feel fine in sacrificing X potential DPS for the Y PvP talent. EJ cannot optimize <i>that</i> sort of decision.<br /><br />Besides, WoW is 95% execution of abilities, so "optimizing the fun out of the game" should not apply unless you dislike the player skill part of it. Which given the predilection of most RPG players (and MMO players), may actually be the case.Azurielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581263347888757710noreply@blogger.com