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Richard

increase oxytocin and dopamine inducing activities

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I keep trying to think of things that will increase the amount of happy feelings while playing, so all of my friends will play with me, without altering the fundamental nature of the game.  Those feelings are oxytocin and dopamine.  Increasing oxytocin can have the added benefit of encouraging people to be friendlier to each other, which would further increase oxytocin.  Like petting your dog makes you more likely to turn around and be nice to a human a couple minutes later.  So I have a few ideas.  Maybe there are others.

 

  • I've already suggested adding cute pets that respond happily when you pet them.  So that's one.  
  • Another is adding NPCs to the game.  Or maybe even having the ability to interact with tower guards.  I have a few ideas for things NPCs can do to increase oxytocin.
  1. One is that they can give you quests to do and thank you profusely for doing them.  I'm thinking of like the old Ultima games.  Like they need a meat and a vegetable to feed their starving children, so you have to go get it for them.  This kind of thing would boost both oxytocin (the love drug) and dopamine (the satisfaction of accomplishment drug).  If you complete the tasks they give, they might even give you little rewards or ranks or maybe you become known throughout the land as a benevolent person.  
  2. They can praise you.  Now I'm thinking about Austin the butler in Gardenscapes and Homescapes.  He'll say things like "That was such a great win, I had to call my mother and tell her about it."  Or "I don't know why they don't report your wins in the newspaper."  His praises are absurd, but they work.
  3. They can talk to you.  I think this is cute in the short run but gets less effective over time as people hear or read them over and over.  However, just saying random things every so often will endear people.  Like the guards could just say, "I love the sunrise around here."  Or "I'm here to protect and serve you."  
  • Another idea is to have kids that follow you around that you have to care for, feed and whatnot, like a pet, only a human.  Caring for another person invokes positive feelings.  It can also be a bit of a drudgery if it takes too much effort with no reward.  Maybe they can be the NPC that follows you around and praises your every accomplishment (like the opposite of real children).  All you have to do is keep them fed, which is relatively little effort.  Also, it would be a good use for all of the toys in the game.  Maybe giving the kid toys makes him happy and he thanks you profusely.  

 

 

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Instead of, or maybe in addition to kids, there could be spouses.  Mail order brides (or grooms).  :D   I've seen this in another game, Project Gorgon, which allows you to marry and have sex with NPC characters.  I don't know how it works, because I haven't done it.  But if an NPC can be your companion, why not an adult that can help you in battle and possibly have sex with you as well?  I don't know whether this community would be outraged by introducing the idea of sex to the game.  I know Project Gorgon gets some pushback about it.  Or there doesn't have to even be sex for people to think about the potential for sex with their NPC spouse, or even love and comradery, which would still increase those positive feelings.  

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55 minutes ago, Richard said:

 Mail order brides (or grooms).    

maybe less slavery

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Please no more NPCs and no artificial questlines in Wurm. We have every other game on Earth for that. Please let Wurm remain player-driven.

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1 hour ago, Alexgopen said:

you used to be able to have kids but they removed it

 

A real shame, really

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2 hours ago, Richard said:

  Maybe they can be the NPC that follows you around and praises your every accomplishment (like the opposite of real children).  

 

 

 

 

Having a kid in wurm should be like the thing that happens when you have enemies in local, "an irritating presence comes over you and you cannot focus, your skillgains suffer"

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Talking mobs, once they are your pet, could be nice tho, but only you would see or hear them talk, else annoying for other players, like wagoners' chitter-chattering

 

But kids could be annoying i agree with Alyeska on that.

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Richard, I have to say I don't agree with your premise here. NPC's are insincere. They can be made (programmed) to say anything. How any praise from them can induce these O&D reactions of any significance within the brain is questionable when this is taken into consideration.

 

Yes, a lot of the big MMO's make extensive use of NPC's but not in the specific context that you are suggesting as their primary design (insincere flattery). Anyway, Wurm has never had much focus upon NPC interactions but rather those with other real people. Not that I am against some NPC enhancements but the focus of the game is elsewhere and to develop anything of depth or significance would be a whole other large project with questionable worthwhile results. Surely there would not be much brain depth triggering of O&D in the process.

 

Maybe then creating more ways to enable human interaction within the game would be the better path to continue upon. Even then I find it hard to relate to others online without their physical presence to enhance and reinforce the words that are so easily typed without expression. Just voice added doesn't do much for me either, as without physical presence the tone of it can easily be misinterpreted. Yeah, well, off on another tangent...

 

=Ayes=

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It's not insincere flattery, though.  It's verbal reward for doing things in the game.  For instance, in Homescapes and Gardenscapes, although Austin the butler goes overboard in praise, he only praises when you win the game.  When you lose, he offers words of encouragement.  So it's like getting a reward, only the reward is kindness from a character.  

 

I have tried to get my friends and family to play this game with me, and I hear from them things like it's too tedious of a game and it's lonely.  At the same time, they say it's peaceful and relaxing because it's reminiscent of walking through a forest.  I've read article after article online saying the exact same things about the game.  Plus, although I wouldn't know what it's like in PvP, I have read that the PvP aspect of the game is basically like hanging out waiting for jerks to try to mess with you or kill you.  NPC characters can give a game the feel you intend for it to have, and people are more likely to play the way you model with the NPC characters.  So, I don't know, maybe you like there being zero reward for lots of work and living in a world where people are constantly angry with you, but I think more people would play if we could stop saying "Other games already do that."  Yeah, other games do things that people actually like.  There is no harm in using the tried and true methods others have used to make the game more enjoyable.  If every suggestion for making the game fundamentally better (rather than just adding new colors or something) is met with "other games do that already," then Wurm will never be able to get any better in any significant way.  I don't want new graphics.  I want to add to the enjoyment of playing the game. 

I like interacting with NPC characters if they're nice.  In fact, I still fondly recall many NPC characters from other games I've played in my life years and years ago, as if they were real life friends.  They can make a game.  Yeah, if they're just there to distribute quests, then it's boring and pointless.  But if they're your friends who encourage you and help you, then that's a whole different thing.  I think other people must like them, too, or games that utilize those methods wouldn't be so popular.  If you don't like them, you don't have to talk to them.  I don't do any of the stupid quests that are already in Wurm, because they're pointless (why am I killing 100 chickens?) and there is no real reward for doing it.  But I'm not saying to you, "I don't like it, so they shouldn't be in the game."  If you don't like it, don't do it.  I want more people to play with me who are actually nice, kind people that would prefer to help others than go around harassing and insulting them.  But those kinds of people won't play if the environment isn't conducive to that mindset. 

Also, there is no reason at all Wurm can't implement pets.  We can lead animals around on a rope already.  It's a slight change to what's already there.  And if you can have pets, why not pet people?  This is not a technological feat I'm requesting.  

 

 

Edited by Richard
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i play wurm to get away from my kids for a bit, please no kids!

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5 hours ago, Richard said:

  maybe you like there being zero reward for lots of work and living in a world where people are constantly angry with you

its worked for me so far

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Dopamine is succeeding at another project.  Other one is helping a person out who needs it.. I get both and I like it.

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