The thin line of mutual discretion dividing gamers and MMO developers has now been crossed. EVE Online’s Kristoffer Touberg has admitted openly that “boring” tasks are used in MMOs to keep the player interested.
While that might seem counterintuitive, the low effort required to complete tasks in most MMOs generally is acceptable to players when weighed against the reward(s).
“Like hauling minerals across EVE: it’s viciously boring, but people still spend eight hours a day doing something [in their own lives] and then they go haul minerals in EVE,”
Next, he essentially says that if you put something in a video game – even if it’s near the same in real life – it automatically becomes more interesting and exciting.
“Something as mundane as having shared credit cards, in EVE, becomes a feature. It doesn’t have to be like the biggest dragon you could ever find. Just take something from real life that might be slightly boring and put it in a different environment, and just watch what happens.”
“Everybody complains about mining, but I think it’s the finest hangover feature you could ever do. I’d just switch the miner on, I’d watch sports on Sunday and be hungover and eat pizza. I think that’s great. Not everything has to be super wild.”
Via VG247
