[MUD-Dev] Nation of shopkeepers

[Marian Griffith]

On Sat 12 Jul, Jeff Kesselman wrote:
> At 10:40 AM 7/12/97 PST8PDT, Marian Griffith wrote:

> >*grin* I wonder if people would still be laughing when they realise there
> >will be no bread unless somebody else decides to bake it. And sells it at
> >a price justified by demand.

> Interesting question.. id it fun to force players to do basicly boring
> actions as the "price" of playing the game??

Not if it is the only thing you can do. But as a sideline I think it's
great. Why should everybody go out of town and hack monsters to pieces
if they can also decide to stay home and do more mundane things. Right
now there is no such choice in ordinary muds.  Baking bread itself may
not be that much fun.  But running a shop with everything to come with
that may well be. And players who don't want to bother can simply find
themselves money and buy their bread. Oh. did I mention that money has
to be hard to come by and there should not be ludicrous amounts of ar-
mour lying around to sell at shopkeepers with endlessly supply of gold
to buy them?
My choice would be to get rid of all shopkeepers in the game.  Instead
players have to fend for themselves. If they are accepted into a guild
that will provide them with food and shelter, for a tithe. If they are
not they'll have to go stealing. Or learn to live off the land quickly
before they starve to death. Not fun?  Depends on what you want out of
a game I think.
Next I would also get rid of the tons of discarded armour  that can be
found everywhere on the typical mud.  When you chop somebody to pieces
any armour he is wearing is going to be ruined beyond repair.  If they
were any armour at all. If a players wants armour they go to the local
blacksmith and have it made for them.  Or if they are realy truly rich
they can afford to got to the mage-smith and have some piece of armour
imbued with magical protections tailor made for them.
Life on a mud need not be easy. Nor particularly fair.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey