The Basics on Designing Virtual Worlds

Appearance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Newbies tend to believe that the appearance of a virtual world is very important; oldbies are generally more concerned with other features.

Virtual worlds are typically characterized as being either text-based (textual) or graphics-based (graphical). The former use words to describe locations, objects, and other players, whereas the latter use pictures.

There is, however, quite a spectrum between the two extremes. To access a textual virtual world, a player needs some kind of software connection to it. This may be direct—for example, by running the game server from a console and typing at its prompts—or it may be indirect through use of a client. If a client is involved it may be dumb, intelligent, or custom.

Genre

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Another categorization that is important to newbie players but less so to designers is genre ¹.

A newbie will look at a set of virtual worlds and say that this one is medieval Fantasy, this one is Cyberpunk Science Fiction, this one is dark vampire Horror, this one is Greek Mythology, this one is asexual Japanese Anime, this one is stylized Gangsters, and so on.

Again, though, from a design perspective most of the way a virtual world works is independent of genre. Sure, you’re not going to need magic in a world based on Venice in the 16 th century, and you’re not going to need firearms in a world where all the players take on the role of fishes. However, most of the basic functionality isn’t going to change a lot across genres.

Codebase

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Related to the idea of genre is that of codebases. To explain how the two are connected requires a short introduction to some principles of virtual world server architecture.

Codebases came about because much of the work that needs to be done to create a virtual world can be re-used when creating other virtual worlds. How much, exactly, depends on the codebase. Codebases are mainly associated with the third age of virtual worlds, although the codebase principle was used as early as MUD1 and there are ongoing attempts to create similar solutions for graphical virtual worlds (Asheron’s Call was designed with this idea in mind ¹).

Age

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

How long does a virtual world typically last? What stops it from lasting longer?

To give you some idea of the longevity involved here, Table 1.2 lists examples of the oldest incarnations in existence of free, text-based virtual worlds.

Textual worlds have the potential to last indefinitely. This isn’t simply because the graphics never date and the bandwidth requirements are low (although those are factors); rather, it’s that they can remain compelling for long enough that people want to stay. Those that fail to attract a critical mass of players tend to die after a few months, but beyond that a virtual world can last for years so long as there is someone around willing to host and administrate it ¹.

Player Base

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The other way to look at the success or otherwise of a virtual world is by examining its player base. In theory, the better worlds will attract more players, and therefore those that have the largest player bases are the best. In theory….

Actually, there are many reasons why a virtual world may have a large user base (or a small one), with marketing and pricing not insignificant factors. From a designer’s point of view, these have to be taken into account so the essential reasons for a design’s success can be gauged.

Dimensions: Change and Persistence

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

So how do designers categorize virtual worlds? And why would they want to categorize virtual worlds anyway?

Categorizations make explicit some of the choices available to designers. It’s all too easy to begin designing a virtual world having already made key decisions without even being aware of the fact. By laying out the options available to them, not only can designers be aware of what options are available to them, they are also forced to look at their solutions more analytically. Categorizations are particularly useful for seeing what the various combinations of design decisions imply about any resulting virtual world.