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Designing Virtual Worlds is the most comprehensive treatment of virtual world design to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants. It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary, economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethical underpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.
Designing Virtual Worlds brings a rich, well-developed approach to the design concepts behind virtual worlds. It is grounded in the earliest approaches to such designs, but the examples discussed in the book run the gamut from the earliest MUDs to the present-day MMORPG games mentioned above. It teaches the reader the actual, underlying design principles that many designers do not understand when they borrow or build from previous games. There is no other design book on the market in the area of online games and virtual worlds that provides the rich detail, historical context, and conceptual depth of Designing Virtual Worlds.
Sample Chapter - 849 kb - Chapter 2 - Hot to Make Virtual Worlds
Introduction.
1. Introduction to Virtual Worlds.
Some Definitions. What They Are and Whence They Came. The Past Affects the Future. The Basics. Influences on Virtual Worlds. The Designer.
Development. On Architecture. Theory and Practice.
Who Are These People and What Do They Want? Player Types. Other Categorizations. The Celebration of Identity. Anonymity. Role-Playing. Masquerading. Community. Influence Through Design.
Scope. Major Decisions. Geography. Population. Physics. Reset Strategy.
Advancement. Character Generation. The Virtual Body. Groups. Combat. Crafting. The Elder Game. The Whole Picture.
Points of View. Making Sense of Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds as Subfields. Virtual Worlds as Tools. Virtual Worlds asVirtual Worlds. Conclusion.
A Theory of Virtual Worlds. The Story of Story. The Critical Aesthetic in Use.
Censorship. Players as People. Groups of Players as Groups of People. Yourself.