The most comprehensive treatment of virtual world design to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants.
A tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary, economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethical underpinnings of design.
Provides the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles.
Covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.
Various sales projections for the online games market for 2004 range anywhere from $1.2 to $5 billion. These estimates are based on the success of established MMORPGs like Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest and Lineage, and the expected success of the long anticipated Star Wars Galaxies. These sorts of games immerse the players in virtual worlds; game worlds that persist over time and in which there is a shared, multi-user experience. These games developed from traditional games and MUDs (text-based multi-user interactive games). The Internet made virtual worlds more accessible and more graphical, and participation has grown exponentially.
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.
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