It’s ironic that people keep telling us to go play retail when the biggest issue with retail is that people are constantly being herded into playing in very specific ways. The newschool dev team is too controlling, this is an example of THAT, not of “the vanilla spirit”.
Restricting the way people play is actually a far more retail mindset than letting people play their way.
The single most important thing to remember when creating a game is that it must be FUN. When someone sits down to play your MMO, they are doing so to be entertained. An MMO should not feel like a job or obligation. It’s very important not to fall into that trap of trying to manipulate your community, as if you’re trying to run an ant farm . As a designer, it’s your responsibility to create a world that’s exciting, challenging, and FUN. It’s not your job to play god over someone’s play experience.
Avoid ant farm syndrome. Don’t play god. Don’t make an ant farm . Social experiment is not the goal of the game. A lot of designers stop playing games when they start making games, because they are playing with the players. That is fun for the designer, not the player.
The above two quotes are the vanilla spirit. Controlling people and herding us into playing in a particular way is the antithesis of vanilla design philosophy.