[MUD-Dev] Integrating PK

[Huibai]

A few comments on your (interesting!) list, Brandon:

: Brandon Cline so eloquently stated:

:    Anonyimity;
:     Standardized personal descripts, (hair color, length,
:                                                            eye color etc)

Agreed - but also I'm implementing the 'introduce'-like
"name" handling in the client, for either tagging a name
to someone or knowing them by the name they give.

:     Layered eq visibility (Pc and NPC alike)

YES!  A point I am adamant about.  Instead of "look at
brandon" and seeing his Sword of Doom +3, Gloves of
Giant Mauling, Secret Armour of the Ages, etc., I can
only see <A sword and plenty of armour> or <A sword
 and only a shield> or <No weapon but tons of armour>

I've moved standard 'short descriptions' to just a good
handling name, with 'medium descs' now taking over the
old short-desc job.  Shorts can be expected to logically
fit into any sentence as a handle, while mediums can
be expected to fit into a sentence as a fairly unique
identifier.  Objects in the same environment get to see
mediums, while objects in equal effective environments
only get to see shorts.

:     Non-automatic pc name visibility

only the who list involuntarily, and voluntary tells/pages.

:  Combat system:
:  Wound based instead of hp, allows for more 
:  non-deadly battles.

I'm now leaning towards sending the dying party straight
to unconsciousness (except for 1/10 or so chance of 
accidental kill) so that deathstrokes must be deliberate.
Based on the greatest damage type (bash/cut/thrust/
magic) you could then assign a wound as something
that would need taking care of before you could get back
to being your old, alive, hoppity self.

: Sight, soun, smell, taste and touch have different ranges.

I'm routing smell through the sound functions; I am not
going with a true coord system, so taste and touch have
no use for me...

: Ranged combat.

I've played mostly sci-fi muds and am therefore retarded
for implementations beyond the one I have in mind.  Any
special extra this depends on? or does it become possible
solely through use of coord-based ranges?

: Less support for invasive player social commands:
:  Tell, who, shout, etc...bleh, replace with something realistic

For example, eliminate 'tell' altogether *grin*.  Let the player 
pay out some cold cash for a "page" (lowly runner-boy NPC)
to run and 'summon' your intended contact.  Example:
John:
> page brandon
The urchin accepts your coins and runs off to find Brandon.
<boy compares his coords to target's, selects highway, runs>
Brandon:
A street urching arrives panting heavily.  He says to you,
"A short dwarf wants to see you at the tavern in Goodtown."
The poor kid lies down for a nap.

: Now, I could go into a long discusion why I think some or all
: of this would help to counter abusive players without restricting
: all the players of the game to non-realistic "game" rules.

Very much agreed... with 'real' people harder to find (and there-
for relatively few and far between), I think personal contacts 
would be initially more friendly & relieved than the usual once-
over "how good is he _really_?" look.  Such an environment
can only help steer away from the common squabbles that
are bound to occur but seem to reach beyond their scope in
hostility that arises.

-John G.