[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.

[coder at ibm.net]

On 10/11/97 at 08:39 AM, Ola Fosheim Gr=B0stad <olag at ifi.uio.no> said:
>coder at ibm.net wrote:

>><<I strongly agree, and for the same reasons.  I have an annual budget =
of
>>near zero for games, yet my annual software budget is many $hundred.  T=
he
>>last game I actually went out and bought was a second hand copy of SimC=
ity
>>over two years ago.  That was the first game I'd bought in almost 5 yea=
rs.=20
>>Of course this places me outside of the game manufacturer's target
>>market/demographics -- but I find it more interesting that I'm being
>>joined.  I must wonder (hope?) if that motion will become general.>>

>If this motion is becoming general then we are up for a very interesting
>situation!  However, I've always been this way when it comes to games, I
>almost always looked at ideas and technology and only occasionally been
>caught by the actual gameplay (in my teens I of course got all my games
>for free from friends, unlimited access, sometimes before they hit the
>market).  I don't think what designers look for in games is neccessarily
>what the general public looks for. I only buy novelty (old
>Infocom,Myst,Creatures being the only ones), and as most companies now
>provide enjoyable demos, I never really feel like buying the real thing.
>(Don't worry, I don't get them from friends anymore) I think I would hav=
e
>bought both "chaos engine" and "worms" if it hadn't been for the fact
>that their demo versions were enough for me.  I probably wouldn't have
>bought Creatures if they had provided a demo. This is an area where
>single user game productions are having a real problem.  I think demo
>promotions is more likely to work in a multiuser setting.  I believe it
>will work best if you provide free access, but limited freedom. This way
>the user will log on, hear about all the fun the others (his new friends=
)
>have access to and hopefully he will eventually pay...

Yup.  I play a lot of demos as well, and never buy the "Real Thing".  I
suspect that as the 'net broadens that game companies will find an
increasing percentage of their potential revenues dissappearing into the
free demo market.  Whether they'll get concerned of course is dependant o=
n
their own for-fee revenue growth rate.

Demos for multi-user games have classically consisted of: log replays (se=
e
all the neat things that have happened!), movie-style trailers, guest
characters, and freebie short lived (occassionally limited) "real"
characters (usually convertable for fee into "real" characters).  I don't
see any reason not to use all the techniques, encluding the AOL-style las=
t
one.  They're all cheap, re-usable, and create value in-game.

>> Never take over control of the player's character.
>>
>><<This would seem to argue against the RP-common point of automating
>>certain player reactions, such as becoming angry and attacking when
>>another character spills his beer on you.>>

>Is this beer thing actually used in muds?=20

Nathan has claimed such for PhysMUD++.

>(of course, if you have a
>gamemaster he will try to make sure that the less skilled players stay i=
n
>character) Some automating is making adrenaline-pumping action possible
>in a lag situation.

Ahh.  I merely have the game assume that character =3D=3D human player fo=
r
everything I can.

--=20
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...