Sigil Games' Brad McQuaid Talks Instancing
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Let's start with the old school: perhaps the designers are big time original D&D players (or at least AD&D that's what I played hey I'm not that old). D&D wasn't massively multiplayer it was you, your group, and the DM. No one would argue that setup created some great times, great experiences, and great memories. I sure have them. And if that is what you think back on mostly, what you cherish, what you are trying to re-create, then having multiple groups around is a problem. Or, if not a problem (say, you are super-DM), it's certainly more challenging to make work. So by limiting the number of people in any given area to a group size via Instancing, a decent attempt at re-capturing those D&D experiences can be made. But now the experience is re-created on your computer, and you don't have to set up all that stuff up, and you don't have to invite all of those smelly guys over, and you don't have to feed them. So Instancing seems like a way to re-capture some of the soul of D&D and other classic paper and pencil games, but without some of the downsides, and this could be attractive to both a player who wants that experience again and especially for a DM who wants complete control over his campaign. He has it all worked out, yet can still react to an idea or solution he didn't specifically plan for. He may have a complete campaign he's worked months on and that would also take, at least with paper & pencil, months to complete. Likely, he's now found a more efficient and hopefully more immersive way to share that campaign with other people.
