[arg_discuss] [pm] Scalability

[Andrea Phillips]

OK, let's get this on-topic party started. ;)

One of the issues we have to deal with as pms is one of scalability,  
particularly as it relates to interactive game components... I'm  
curious as to different teams' approaches/philosophies on this. It  
seems as though in general, one can provide a very-high-production- 
values kind of interactivity experience to only a limited number of  
people. There's always a bit of a dynamic tension between the desire  
to be inclusive and the desire to be responsive to your players.

Obviously, live events are not so scalable, but can have a huge  
impact.. (I'm looking at the Heist and Last Call people here :). Do  
you feel like all of your audience is able to benefit from something  
that a group of five or even twenty people can physically do? How do  
you pick those five or twenty people while remaining fair? Is it all  
self-selection and convenient geography?

Some other kinds of popular interaction, such as IM or voice chat,  
are also limited to the ability of a human being (or a few human  
beings) to actually respond. Is there a way to overcome this kind of  
restriction in the future, or will it always be the case? (I'd of  
course understand if you think you have a line on how to overcome it  
but want to keep it to yourself. ;)

For grassroots games, this can also become an issue of budget... do  
you find yourself NOT wanting to exceed a certain small, high-quality  
playerbase in order to keep your bandwidth and other costs under  
control?

Feel free to opine with wild abandon...

--
Andrea Phillips
http://www.perplexcity.com
http://www.deusexmachinatio.com