then hope other people enjoy what we make? Before I go any further and lose anyone who was hoping for a practical discussion here, let me be clear that pretty much everything I say is through the lens of Runeacape games as a business. Forest and I have quit our day jobs in hopes of making a living by doing what we love.So, I'm interested in "excellence" in terms of academic thought but also in practical business terms: what makes a Runeacape game highly valuable to a paying audience? When I argued that pursuing excellence should be priority 1, it's because I think this is what makes the most business sense and is incidentally more fulfilling.
Maybe we just need to be more specific.So what is an Excellent Runeacape game? In terms of Runeacape games, I would suggest that Excellence is a transaction that happens between a Runeacape game and the Runeacape player.To put it another way, a Runeacape game is by definition meant to be played, and a RS Gold game proves itself to be excellent when an audience finds it to be so through play. You may disagree, but perhaps that baseline definition can get us out of the realm of philosophy a bit, and back towards practical working discussion.Stephen Totilo recently argued repeating a definition coined by Sid Meier that what sets apart "good Runeacape games" from "bad Runeacape games" is that the good ones have interesting choices.
He added after talking with Dylan Cuthbert and others that good Runeacape games also have "Merihari," a Japanese word that's roughly translated as a combination of rhythm, balance, and distribution.However, others are quick to point out that Runeacape games such as Guitar Hero involve little meaningful choice, and would probably be appealing even without the little choice that is there.I think Stephen is onto something here, but perhaps his definition is too narrow. "Meaningful choice" is a trait that we have come to value highly but it's not an essential trait, and it's certainly not the only trait that matters.