How much structure/rules do you like in MMOs?

[StaceyPowers]

I noticed @killamch89 and @Darya chatting over here about about how online games with too strict of rules are not enjoyable environments, and I thought this would be a good topic for discussion.

 I used to MUD, and I was very dedicated. But I remember that there were constant issues with administrators. @killamch89 mentioned that overly strict admins seem like they’re trying to be GOD, and in the games where I was playing, the admins were literally present in their own games as gods. It wasn’t an altogether terrible way of doing things—it did have some interesting results—but talk about overly involved administrators. Way too often, the rules they imposed were arbitrary, and were driven by their personal feelings rather than those of players. They fought the organic development of their games at every turn, trying to steer them along artificially imposed pathways.

On the other hand, all too often when someone should have come down on something really bad (i.e. in-game sexual harassment), they were nowhere to be found—again often for personal reasons. So it was often the worst of both worlds.

I never did find a “best of both worlds” in terms of the perfect balance of rules versus freedom in an online game.

How much admin involvement to you look for? Do you prefer a strictly controlled environment with firm rules, or more openness when it comes to behaviour which is allowed in a game? Have you ever found an “ideal” game in this respect?

[Bravosi]

I hate when an MMO tries to suit both casuals and hardcore players. Binding the rules to "fan faction".

[StaceyPowers]

11 hours ago, Bravosi said:

I hate when an MMO tries to suit both casuals and hardcore players. Binding the rules to "fan faction".

Can you elaborate, especially regarding "fan fiction?"

[skyfire]

Open world wise lot of good games are coming. But with battle royale, most of the structure and the flow and even the design is not much taken into important context. Something like that can be bad for the gaming industry. Like with battle royale, there would be less good graphics in games now.