[MUD-Dev] Re: Issues from the digests and Wout's list

[Adam Wiggins]

> > Another random thought:  How would you think players would respond if they
> > were by default, oriental?  With a very low chance of not being so (if
> > they chose human).  I've got a theme reason for this...
> 
> A while back I'd posted to one of the ng's a question like this, but regarding
> character gender:  possible repercussions of making it a factor in the game
> attempts to balance the results if you chose one gender over another).
> Thoughts?

Oh, of course.  It's silly to think that the two genders are the same just
as it is silly to think that two races are the same, or even two people
born in slightly different places.  Every little thing about someone is
a trait that is probably signifigant in one way or another.  Now, these
factors should be given the proper weight.  I'd hate to see something
like:

> kill fred
You're a girl, you don't like those sorts of things.

or:

> sew jacket
You're a boy, you don't like those sorts of things.

*snicker*...at any rate back when we were more diku-y we simply gave
males +1 strength and con, and females +1 dexterity, wisdom, and charisma.
This pretty much paled in comparison to the racial bonuses, though
(ie, average minotaur has a 30 str, average human has a 10...so that single
point isn't really all that relevant).
Now, we're a little more subtle, but certainly this influces things.
Most females, for instance, do not grow facial hair.

One thing that does seem to be popular is making special mobs or locations
in the world which are affected by character's gender...for instance
a female I know write a zone full of Amazons which were aggresive only to
men.  Or a sucubus who has a higher chance of energy draining/charming
males than females.  (for some reason, these things always seem to be
slanted against males...)

> As for players being oriental, I don't think it would be a cause for concern u
> there are major disadvantages between being oriental and being whatever the
> alternatives are.  There has to be some sort of balancing.

Well, I think the problem here is that you are then forced to make some sort
of a judgement call about the given sub-species.  Ie, do you make it so
that black humans get +1 strength and asian humans +1 int?  This sort of
thing is dangerous ground, and really it's not something I want to worry
about in a mud where I'm trying to get *away* from the 'real world'.
Much easier to just make swamp trolls which get +1 str and woodland trolls
which get +1 int...people don't get all riled up about that, and it's more
interesting anyhow.