[MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics

[Koster]

On Wednesday, December 10, 1997 7:19 AM, Ola Fosheim=20
Gr=F8stad[SMTP:olag at ifi.uio.no] wrote:
> "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at origin.ea.com> wrote:

> >BUT any code system which attempts to judge human behavior is=20
doomed
> >to screw up. :P
>
> So... It didn't work??  Give us the gory details please!!! :)
>
> Ola.

Work, not work... whew. :P Tough question. Quickie overview:

It's probably the single least popular feature in the game. This still=20
comes out at 74% want to keep it whilst fixing any bugs.

It causes a lot of admin load, because people end up affecting their=20
reputations negatively accidentally, or through utter cluelessness=20
(got a letter today saying, "Honest, I had no idea that rummaging=20
through other people's bags would make others look down on me!")

A description of the system in place in UO:

There is a notoriety scale that goes positive and negative. Zero and=20
some range on the sides of it is considered anonymity.

Certain actions when taken will result in your "notoriety" rising,=20
others will result in its going down. Some of the actions change in=20
result depending on who the victim of the action was. Over time it=20
tends to sink to center. The value includes a base value plus a local=20
factor (which isn't very large).

Typical actions tracked include attacking, killing (this is tracked=20
separately from attacks), stealing, rummaging through other people's=20
belongings, setting off explosives, giving items to people, healing,=20
casting beneficial or detrimental spells, inciting fights, etc.

Visible effects of this include: prices in shops changing based on=20
your notoriety, up to and including the refusal of service; your title=20
changing; targeting in combat changing the highlight color so you can=20
tell whether the attack would have a positive, negative or no effect=20
(graphical system of course); NPC conversation and reaction based on=20
the stat; guards attacking or preventing access to certain areas and=20
thus to certain services, such as banking; difficulty in resurrecting=20
if your reputation is too low.

Additional side frills not directly related to this system but which=20
tie into it: excessive kills of individuals more innocent than=20
yourself will result in bounties being posted, with confiscation of=20
your goods; all player vs player kills are tallied on a local bulletin=20
board.

Benefits: the overall incidence of harassing or pointless pkilling=20
since all the above fell into place has dropped by a factor of at=20
least ten (clear out of our list of top issues, in fact). Players can=20
see those who are

Major issues: "Oops, I accidentally attacked my friend!" "Hey, my=20
friend and I want to attack each other to practice weaponry, yet our=20
reputations suffer!" "This guy broke into my house, but had a good=20
reputation, and I would damage mine if I attacked him" Plus, the top=20
playerkiller groups now are GOOD guys who self-righteously hunt down=20
anyone who has slipped slightly in reputation and kills them, because=20
that way they kill indiscriminately but still keep their reputation=20
up. This can be seen as a benefit, I guess, since it adds a lot of=20
teeth to the system :)

But the biggest problem of course: it's just another layer of game to=20
play. All the above can be manipulated (we do hide numbers on this of=20
course, but there is an overall title) and an expert player can play=20
the numbers. It also damages roleplay quite a lot since playing an=20
honorable rogue is very difficult, and it basically makes large scale=20
combat impossible right now (as it would ruin the reputations of=20
everyone in the battle).

However, do I believe it's better than nothing? Heck yeah.

-Raph