Not neither but either-or depending on situation. It is preferred behavior not binary state.
If you make it a “must” you only retain 15% of people who score highest on extroversion. 15% of introverts AND 65% who deviate and diverse might have a problem with “must”.
I was fascinated by “Friendship Machine” talk initially, but now I think CCP Ghost’s claim that “people tend to stay longer, play longer if they join corps, join fleets”, is a mantra on par with “scarcity breeds war”. I mean it might be statistical error. They claim they have hundreds of thousands of people trying out EVE every year and they have abysmal renention numbers. Those retention numbers might well be statistically insignificant.
Solo gameplay
It’s a common thing to hear people say in gaming forums “you can’t play this game solo, its an MMO”.
In this classic GDC 2011 talk, BioWare Austin’s Damion Schubert (0:51:23) discusses the rationale for solo playstyles in MMORPGs.
Being a ‘loner’ implies and requires other people - namely those which are being avoided.
The 10 Different Kinds of Loners:
The new kid in town. Many people prefer doing their learning alone, away from social scrutiny and the potential shame of failure.
The Daria. A staggering 90% of the readers of the most mailing lists and message boards never post. These ‘lurkers’ still find value in just watching - because other people are interesting.
The Sociopath. “It’s long been known that people are less inhibited over the phone than in person, and people are now aware that they are less inhibited in email than on the phone, and I believe they are less inhibited in MUDs than in email. This leads to an interesting conclusion for MUD design - penalties won’t solve your playerkiller problem. Helping them gain empathy will.” - Raph Koster
Mr. Lunch At His Desk. Many players are playing under real-world constraints, such as during limited break opportunities at work, or at home when the spouse and baby are asleep.
The Introvert. A huge percentage of the population are Myers Briggs ‘introverts’ - between 25-50% of the population, depending on which study you read.
The Adrift. Having a social group disintegrate can be just as terrifying as being dumped, and create similar feelings of loneliness. In this case, playing solo is a broken state.
The Unworthy. Find ways for these players to learn the skills they need in a solo environment, where they can fail without the social stigma of failure.
Vacationer. The player wants to play the game he loves to escape his obligations. Sometimes this includes his in-game obligations.
The Commitment-phobic. Many players like the idea of group activities like raids, but are leery of huge timesinks, potential drama, or making a commitment to 25 other people who turn out to be idiots.
The Garbo. Some people just want to be left alone. It is important to remember there’s a clear difference between being alone and being lonely.
They say getting into player corp early, engaging in fleet roams, interacting with other players is good for retention. Solo players are considered less engaged. And though EVE always was and still is great for solo, CCP seems to have pivoted towards group gameplay design lately. And they should keep solo players in mind.
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