[MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World]

[coder at ibm.net]

On 07/12/97 at 12:57 PM, Richard Woolcock <KaVir at dial.pipex.com> said:

>I require email registration as well, although some people are taken on
>trust (if they don't have email) and of course I don't accept freemail
>addresses (hotmail, etc).  People can still play without authorisation,
>but they are limited to the 'newbie' channel (which people can turn off
>when the spammers come on) and are unable to become anything other than a
>run-of-the-mill mortal (thus preventing 'spy' characters ruining clan/
>sect/species wars).  At first it seemed a lot of hassle and players
>didn't like it, but it DOES seem to work - players can get a feel for the
>game without bothering to register, and if they like it, registering is
>pretty quick (and they don't have to wait around offline for me to do
>it).  The  'jerks' of the mud generally don't cause too much trouble,
>because it  takes a lot longer for them to go through faking registration
>just to chat  "KaVir sucks" that it does for me to type "deny jerk".

An odd thought on player administration:

  Define a "capability origin" for your game (CO).  It doesn't really
matter where this is, except that it should be close to the starting
location for new players.

  All player characters are "tethered" to the CO.  What this means is that
the game maintains a stat value on the character which limits how far that
character can travel away from the CO.  If they attempt to travel further
than that limit they are physically unable to (body will not obey them,
whatever).

  The value of the stat may be dependant on a variety of things, ranging
from notoriety, reputation, admin reports, etc.  

  Add interest -- add a variety of CO locations, each one keyed to a
different characteristic.  Thus, as a player played, their CO stat values
would vary, and the range and geographic space of the world they could
travel would also vary.  On CO may be centered on "kills", another on RP
points, a third on whatever etc.  

  With the CO points fairly well spread some characters would never get to
meet other from a different domain if their own CO value was too low. 
Others would have the freedom to wander the entire world...

In-game world explanation?  Ahh, tie it to religion and proxmity to the
holy places of the various gods.  The stat would then be proportional to
the Gods trust and favour in you...

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