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WildStar Wednesday sheds light on the game's social design
WildStar, like every other MMO, wants players to enjoy the company of other players. The team behind the game wants players invested in the community and in participating with one another. Victoria Dollbaum, the Social Systems Designer for the game and the writer of this week's WildStar Wednesday, explains that the team wants to create the sort of community feel of older games without including the same sort of brutal systems that made constant community involvement a necessity. Dollbaum explains that the main goal of social design is creating incentives for players to group up rather than punishing them for playing solo. Housing is a prime example, as the game's housing system rewards players of all types: raiders can collect raid trophies, crafters can grow and harvest resources, and roleplayers can run events in their houses along a set theme. Or players can completely ignore the system if they'd prefer. It's a design all about letting the players do what they want and offering the appropriate carrots, and housing is just the tip of a carrot-flavored iceberg.
