Sins of the Empire

Why creating the opportunity to build a kingdom or an empire is a hard thing to do in a MMORPG.

In his article Sins of the Empire, Darien Kane discusses the mistakes in fundamental design made in MMORPG design that preclude the need for empires. He mentions a number of things every society must provide its members:

• Every society must be able to answer the basic biological needs of its members: food, drink, shelter, and medical care. This leads to the sins of:
  • lack of biological needs
  • environmental invulnerability
  • shallow implementation of health needs and health care
• Every society must provide for the production and distribution of goods and services (perhaps through a division of labor, rules concerning property and trade, or ideas about the role of work). The associated sins are:
  • unlimited resources
  • unrealistic disposition of resources
  • simplistic processes of refinement and crafting
• Every society must provide for the training (education, apprenticeship, passing on of values) of an individual so that he or she can become a functioning adult in the society. The sins:
  • insufficient distinction between newbies and veterans
  • lack of varied methodologies for passing on learning
• Every society must provide for the maintenance of internal and external order (laws, courts, police, wars, diplomacy). Sin:
  • imposition of arbitrary legal systems and policing
• Every society must provide meaning and motivation to its members. No sins listed.

See also Hard Problems.

— Scotus - 11 Nov 2003