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Designing Virtual Worlds (Paperback)

~ Richard Bartle (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Designing Virtual Worlds is the most comprehensive treatment of virtual worlddesign to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants. It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary,economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethicalunderpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.

Designing Virtual Worlds brings a rich, well-developed approach to the designconcepts 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 ofDesigning Virtual Worlds.



From the Back Cover

Designing Virtual Worlds is the most comprehensive treatment of virtual worlddesign to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants. It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary,economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethicalunderpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.

Designing Virtual Worlds brings a rich, well-developed approach to the designconcepts 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 ofDesigning Virtual Worlds.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 768 pages
  • Publisher: New Riders Games (July 25, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0131018167
  • ISBN-13: 978-0131018167
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Richard A. Bartle
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Designing Virtual Worlds
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Designing Virtual Worlds 4.9 out of 5 stars (12)
$31.49
Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games
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The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
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A Theory of Fun for Game Design
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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4.9 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Book on the Subject, October 14, 2003
By "microtherion" (Sim City, CA (Somewhere in the Bay Area)) - See all my reviews
This looks like the definitive book on designing virtual worlds, and is likely to stay so for many years. It clearly shows that the author had 25 years of experience--not just as a designer of such worlds, but also as a user--to draw on, while at the same time being sufficiently detached from the industry to be able to offer candid opinions on any subject.

It's hard to think of anything on the subject that Bartle does not at least touch on (providing extensive, scholarly quality references to a wealth of further on- and offline materials), from the deepest metaphysical philosophy to the daily squabbles between users and administrators on virtual worlds large and small. Bartle does not in general provide cut-and-dried solutions to the world design issues, but he gives an extensive discussion of approaches attempted and how they succeeded and failed.

My only reservation with this otherwise excellent book was that I found some of the discussion a bit overly extensive. I would have preferred a book maybe 200 pages shorter, especially towards the final chapters of the book.

If you're planning on designing a virtual world, buying this book is more than just a good idea: Failing to do so would border on criminal negligence.

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for the MUD bookshelf, November 23, 2004
By Jonathan Boeck "alleyrat001" (Watervliet, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I've almost finished this book, and I have to say this is one tome that's a critical necessity for designing and implementing MUDs and/or MMORPGs.

There isn't any code, but Mr. Bartle covers the entire spectrum of the online Virtual World from start to finish. The style of the book is very philosophical in nature, discussing and detailing a problem, then offering what seems to be all possible solutions... and the problems those solutions are likely to spawn. In the final analysis, you have to make the decision as to which solution you will implement. Some of these decisions are not easy at all.

I'm an experienced MUD player and programmer, and I had my own ideas regarding the direction I wanted to go to create the "ultimate" MUD using my own super-duper ideas. This book uncovered numerous flaws in my design that I had not fully considered, and literallly saved me hundreds of hours in time by detailing WHY my ill-considered ideas would certainly cause the MUD to fail.

Every aspect of VW's are explored in detail from all angles. Sometimes this exploration process made the journey a bit tedious, because I wanted the best solution to the problem being discussed... now... and be done with it.

Unfortunatly, that's not easy to do when you're presented with problems that have no perfect solutions, and the requirement is to make a decision... and live with the consequences. Now or later, you WILL decide how you'll deal with this or that design problem. If you don't sort it out, your MUD will never exist, or it will fail to survive. Mr. Bartle is courteous enough to tell you why.

If you're planning a MUD, you MUST consider all the topics he explores in this book, and begin the difficult process of making your design decisions.

An incomplete list of topics covered: virtual world history, the codebases and how they determine what style of VW is created, how to orgainize the design team and what their responsibilities are, the server and client architecture, the people who are drawn to these VW's, who they are, what they're looking for, their styles of play, the problems some of them cause, player participation in the design and content process, considerations about skills, levels, caps, long term players, newbies, character appearances, groups and clans, combat, crafting, NPC services, the economy, Player killing, Player vs Player, Permanent Death and Non-Permanent death, sociology, psychology, RPG theory, story theory, quests and adventures, geography, aesthetics, ethical considerations such as censorship, allowing virtual children, etc, wizzes, the live team, content, real life religeous conflicts, and finally... addiction, and mental illnesses of some of the players.

Have you considered all angles of all that (and more)?

I am totally, and completely, impressed with the breadth and depth of the coverage of all those and many more topics in this book.

Before you begin the design process, and certainly before you write one line of code, this book must be digested. It'll save you countless hours of work, God knows how many headaches, and will prepare you for the trying journey ahead.

5 stars and a must have for the MUD designer's bookshelf.

- Alleyrat
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for world-building of any size, May 13, 2004
By John W Pierce (University of California, San Diego) - See all my reviews
Over the years, I haven't always fully agreed with Richard Bartle's opinions, but he truly does *THINK* about the issues of world design, and he writes exceptionally well. In this book, he gives an extremely thorough, clear, well-reasoned, entertaining, and succinct analysis of the issues involved, the classes of solutions available for the problems those issues present, and the effects those solutions might have on the resolution of other issues. And he keeps his own ego out of the way: Yes, he tells us what he did, and why, but there's no hint that his way is the only way, or the best way, or the moral way - it's just the way he did it for the reasons he gives, and here are the other possibilities. And it applies as well to a 50-player LPMud or MUSH as it does to a 50,000-player MMORPG - and perhaps more so, since the LP and MUSH players are going to (and should) have higher expectations for their world.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb history of Virtual Worlds development
Mr. Bartle's writing is precise and his facts carefully researched, even the ones he experienced himself. Read more
Published on June 26, 2007 by Marji Hazen

5.0 out of 5 stars The theory behind Virtual Worlds
This book taught me the theory behind Virtual worlds and I beleive nearly everything I read in this book. Read more
Published on March 30, 2007 by James Clifton

4.0 out of 5 stars Designing Virtual Worlds
Covers all the aspects of virtual worlds from a psycological perspective; the intentions, the types of virtual worlds. Read more
Published on January 9, 2007 by S. Kulkarni

5.0 out of 5 stars Game theory and design? This is the book you've been looking for!
You're getting it straight from the horse's mouth since this book is written by the grandfather of the modern MMORPG. Read more
Published on July 16, 2006 by Jon Bitwise

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to the philosophy and strategy of designing virtual worlds
To begin with, this book is not a programming book. There is no code, no discussion of VRML, MPEG-4, or X3D. Read more
Published on February 7, 2006 by calvinnme

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious book on Serious fun
I would have to say that Dr. Bartle's book on game design is one book on a tiny bookshelf about the width of a loaf of bread that is worth reading - and this one is worth more... Read more
Published on October 3, 2005 by Erik Bethke

5.0 out of 5 stars Player Psychology
This brings home that its not enough to make a good game, you have to build a community. I would recommend this book not only to aspiring game developers but even to anyone... Read more
Published on December 11, 2003 by Larisa Rivera

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST READ for world designers and developers
Richard Bartle has an amazing amount of experience in designing and building virtual worlds. This book is a MUST READ for anyone designing a multiplayer on-line game or... Read more
Published on November 11, 2003 by thatguyj

5.0 out of 5 stars Massively Multiplayer Design: Soup to Nuts!
If you're thinking of creating your first massively multiuser game and you haven't read Bartle's 'Designing Virtual Worlds', you're about to waste millions of dollars making the... Read more
Published on July 22, 2003 by F. Randall Farmer

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