Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Psychology in video games : there's still hope

Here's a Day-Z interview extract.
I think its fascinating how the survival aspect of this persistent fps/rpg is indicating different gamers psychology depending on the servers geographical situation.

Crowe: Yeah, you were saying, there was no such concept as bandits while you were in New Zealand. Then these Europeans came in and started killing each other. Hall: They did. It got so bad. Because there was a bug where everyone was spawning on the beach. No problem in New Zealand. Buchta:: People started helping each other, right? Hall: Yeah, they started helping each other. Buchta:: While the Russians… Hall: There was a guy who would wait there and he would help the new players when they spawned in. And then on the Europe server, it just became a bloodbath. It was so bad we had to shut the server down until I fixed the mechanic. Buchta:: I’m usually playing in the morning, the European morning, because the servers are full and I have family to take care of in the evenings. It’s always like I’m somewhere in the hills, and I’m always so glad I’m away, because the Russians are all chatting about how they killed people in Chernarus. Crowe: If there was a real zombie apocalypse, I hope to God I’m in New Zealand. Anywhere near Russia, just end it now. Hall: I love the passion the Russian players have, though. That’s why I love participating… I’ve done a few interviews with the live streams… “If there was a real zombie apocalypse, I hope to God I’m in New Zealand.” They’ve got that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. background… Hall: They get it, they so get it. I love watching their live streams. They’re crazy. They’re all bandits. All bandits. They’re just ruthless, they don’t care if they get killed. And they’re not PvP… They’re not player killers. Or they are, but they care about their gear, they care about staying alive. They’re just cutthroat. It’s great. Buchta:: They form small groups and… Dslyecxi: Set a honey trap. Hall: I just think they’re really good. I just think it’s great. The amazing things that people start doing, you just have no idea what they’ll do. There’s a dude who’s being set up… He set himself up as like a surgeon, a doctor, and he’ll go on to servers to help people out. No way. Hall: Yeah! And he has a whole team of supporters, and he has a bunch of people who will spawn in as an escort. And protect him? Wow. Hall: And what he did was, he actually, in character… He went in and figured out all the scripts that I’ve written, what all the medical values are that you need to get sick and how transmission happens. And he wrote up a massive guide, in-game, in-world, explaining it. Not just listing the stats, but actually explaining, okay, if you get sick then people close to you have a high chance of getting sick as well. It was just amazing. He put a lot of effort into that. Do you know if he’s US-based? Hall: I don’t know. He hops around a lot of the servers. But it’s just awesome, just totally spontaneously getting into that. Crowe: It’s nice that you didn’t have to make a medic class. It just emerged.
Complete interview here

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