Why is Clan Lord Fun?
The big thing that makes a game fun is the
opportunity to learn. Clan Lord has provided such great opportunities that
folks have been playing it for close to ten years.
Amazing!
If you look at our original
plans for CL, we assumed that we'd suffer about a 50% attrition rate every four
months. (How many games do you play for four months straight?) So
the world would be a pyramid, with a very few high-level players and a great
mass of newbies.
It hasn't worked out
that way. For the first few years, our attrition rate was something like
20% per year. (I'm going by memory; I haven't done the math in
ages.) This is fantastic, showing a great
game.
However, folks have learned a
lot. Many players, frankly, know more about the game than I (or any one
GM) do. Clan Lord is so huge now that when we add stuff, it seems
insignificant compared to stuff already done. No matter what is added, it
quickly feels like more of the
same.
And when newbies arrive, the
sheer quantity of stuff they need to learn is daunting. Tell an Agratis
character, "After you play for six years, you'll be as tough as me!" and you've
seen him for the last time.
Fun is in
learning something new, and with Clan Lord, frankly, the players are pretty far
up on the learning curve.
Filed Thu - June 8, 2006, 03:12 PM in
Return to: |