Achievement Versus Development

That's enough abstract and semi-concrete examples. What, once and for all, is the difference between achievement and development in multiplayer game design, and what does any of this have to do with glory and shame? Achievement is all about meeting the challenges posed by game design. Development is your growth in the society of the game world. Achievement in a competitive environment where hundreds or thousands are striving for a sharply defined set of goals is glory for the winners, shame for the losers and also-rans.

Development comes not from your ability to achieve game goals, but rather from the ability of the game, intended or not, to reveal who you are. This is how people can come to believe they know ”really know ”people they've played an online game with. This is where the lasting bonds among online gamers come from. This is the reason why the emergence of online gaming as a major entertainment medium is inevitable. As game designers, however, it is our preoccupation with the achievement side of the games we make ”and their side-effects of glory and shame that we, with little thought, unleash upon our customers ”that retard this medium's emergence.