Ruminating upon persistant mmo casusal vs. hc gamers

[solitude_peace2]

Wikipedia defines roleplaying (in the context of roleplaying games, like this one) as:

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.

Basically, to play a role, a kind of acting.

Interesting.

[ScottG]

My definition of RP.

1. Creating a character that I find appealing in some way.
2. Immersing myself into his/her world.
3. Becoming that PC so that while I am playing them I think like them.
4. Letting the PC live their life, with minor alterations by my wants.

Live their life? What are the minor wants?
As many parts of a life can be boring or mundane... And different people define these differently.

Thus some might find some actions mundane while others might enjoy them.

I also wonder what would be the best type of RP engine then. NWN works well due to the ability to use player driven content but also has various limitations and is primarily combat based.

As to the issue of casual vs. HC...
I think part of the issue is how current games reward general time spent, with little skill involved. While I understand that time should somewhat be rewarded and why it is, maybe it shouldn't be.
Maybe you should be rewarded for a specific type of interaction and then given less reward as time goes on (Arguing for a balance in life, much like how the Wii tells you that you should go outside and play instead of playing Wii, occassionally).
Or perhaps there would be a way to set up your character to be an NPC and do things while you are away.
Could you then make a player created MMO?
This could be very interesting assuming the tools would allow you to give most quests you see every day.
But would the lack of repetition be too confusing to your average user?

[solitude_peace2]

Interesting thought.
How about some sort of xp that has its base in the amount of stuff you do in the time that you're logged in? Something that rewards DOING instead of TALKING about doing.

Nah.... that talking is more fun.

[ScottG]

That makes sense... I think it would depend on what you reward.
So you'd give rewards for the density of actions they took or perhaps the quality of actions they have taken.
That might work well.