[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.

[coder at ibm.net]

On 09/11/97 at 08:35 PM, Brandon Cline <brandon at merlin.sedona.net> said:
>On Sun, 9 Nov 1997, Chris Gray wrote:

>> [JC:]
>> 
>> :<<Echoes of the "eat food" debate for MUDs>>
>> 
>> Yep. Some players have apparantly come to expect such things, however -
>> I was asked the other day why there is no food to eat in my game. Shrug.
>> 
>> I think I would not be bothered by such things as long as they didn't
>> bother me! There needn't be a point - it can all be "atmosphere". However,
>> if I have to spend a minute or two every time my character needs to eat,
>> then I *will* become bothered.

>In a mud environment though isn't it true that in order to create
>"atomosphere" you need these details?   Or should players be expected to
>"emote" everything the designer decides is too tedious to implement?

Shades would seem the perfect example here.  It has no general format
emotes, it merely has a (fairly small) set of rarely used fixed socials
(hug, kiss, tickle, boggie, etc).  Yet, I'd argue that there is a strong
sense of atmosphere to the game (even if precious little to no RP).

>> 
>> : A game should offer the fastest and easiest possible way to do
>> : everything unless there is some entertaining or informative
>> : reason to prevent it.
>> :

>And as applied to a mud, a game should offer the fastest and easiest
>possible way to everything ... but should also not remove something
>entirly just because it has the possibility to be slow and tedious...

Which illuminates the point:

  Slow, tedious, distracting, etc ways should be offered to the player so
that the player is then challenged to select the most efficacious method
for the current task.  

A nice side effect is that any decent complex and internally consistant
world will get this by side-effect.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...