EVOLUTION response

[Jon A. Lambert]

> From: claw at null.net
> 
> Here's the post that Jon referenced:
> 
Wow. You pulled that out your hat fast! 

I guess I should point out a few things that piqued my interest
in this overly long treatise.   Most of my comments relate 
to game style preferences rather than technical aspects.
So read no further if you seek coding comments.

> And so I propose a MUD where there is more than one way
> to play the game.  Gods are gods, and have their place
> in interacting with the mortals and creating more of
> the world.   Merchants trade between cities and pay
> attention to the times.  Politicians vie for rule of
> the cities and go to war occasionally.  Adventurers
> hunt down monsters or treasures, or occasionally other
> players, for rewards given out by other players.
> Seasons change, bringing new hardships, famine, and
> reasons for people to work together.  Characters grow
> old and die, passing skills and property on to their
> children.

This is exactly what I wish to achieve.  I should just paste this
into my mud specification. ;-)

> Section 1

This level of specification was pretty worthless to me.  But there
were a couple of attributes here I hadn't thought of.

> Section 2
> 
> Login and Character Creation
>  
> 2.0        The Feel of Entering an AmalgaMUD
> 
> Logging in should have the atmosphere of the
> AmalgaMUD.  As soon as the players connect to the
> site, they should be drawn in to the world.  In mine,
> the character begins floating in a dream like void.  A
> god-like being approaches and asks a few questions,
> creating the character, then sends them down to the
> planet below, getting an overview of the world as they
> descend.  The purpose of this is to let the player get
> into the feel of the game right from the start  We
> want the players to be enjoying the game as soon as
> possible.

A good idea.  Force feed the theme through the character
creation process.  It's far better than "splat, you are in the
temple of midgaard or kerplunk, welcome to the pit"  
If the player loses interest at this point and disconnects
during this process, nobody's time has been wasted.

I have seen close to the exact dream sequence described here
on a mud.  I cannot remember which one it was.

> 2.1        Individual Zone Entry
> 
> The players descend into their home city, receiving a
> description of their decent and the city itself.  
>  It is recommended that new characters land
> somewhere quiet so they have a chance to figure out
> what is going on before having to deal with other
> players.  However, they should not land so far out of
> the way that they spend much time in search of other
> players.

I favor a common entry point, sort of a neutral tavern like
Mos Eisley.  More conducive to immediate player-player
communication.   I think such a place should be swarming with
all sorts of interesting mob AI and good place for experienced
RPGers to greet newbies.
 
> 
> Section 3
> 
> Deities and Cities
> 
> 3.0        A Different Type of Deity
> 
> In every MUD I have visited, a Deity or god or wizard
> was either a player who played the game so much as to
> "earn" they name by obtaining experience points, or a
> player who asked another Deity, god, or wizard for the
> ability to edit the MUD.  Neither of these are, in my
> opinion, characters that the players can have fun
> with.  I propose a Deity as a profession.  A player
> may start out as a Deity as soon as they begin the
> game.

I like the idea of the diety participating in gameplay.   However to
allow this profession upon entry to the mud world may
be ill-advised.  

> 3.1        Cities and Struggles
> 
> The cities are not set up to be cooperative with each
> other, but they can if they work at it.  For example,
> a famine might strike one city (either caused by
> rabbits eating all of the food, or by raids from
> mobiles, or by bad economical decisions.  The populous
> has several choices.  The first is to raid another
> city, taking all of their food and food producing
> plants.  Another is to convince another city to help
> them out.  Another is to send out hunting parties and
> such.  And, of course, there's always asking Deities
> for their help.

I also like the city-state model.  Not forced or by chance mind
you, but completely pre-designed before opening up.

> 3.4        The Language Barrier
> 
> Initially everyone only speaks one language.  This is

A realism vs rp issue.  The Tower of Babel would seem to
be very counterproductive to rp.  However I also dislike the
contrived "common" tongue method.  

> 
> 3.6        The State
> 
Interesting ideas here.  Gotta do the taxation. =)

> 
> Section 4
> 
> Sight and Movement
> 
> 
> Visibility of the exit and the Observance of the
> character compaired with a predetermined value (the
> Visibility of the room + 30).  If the value is less
> than the addition of Observation and Visibility, the
> exit is displayed.  The same is then done for mobiles

I use a perception skill which is subdivided into several
specific areas of perception.  These subskills are the slowest
developing of all skills and are heavily weighted by
character statistics.  They rarely suffer degradation through
lack of use and increase with age/experience.

> 
> 4.6        Observation
> 
> The purpose of the observation score is twofold. 
> First, it limits how much is displayed to players
> running through rooms or otherwise uncaring about the
> lists of information each room has.  This should
> reduce lag.  Secondly, this allows for somewhat hidden
> items.  If a very low observation score is given, it
> will be overlooked by most players.  It also could
> produce humorous effects that add flavor to the game. 

I'm not particularly concerned with the lag aspects, but
it does strike me that there is no reason for a character to
automatically see all emotes and hear everything being said
especially in a crowded bazaar.  I like the idea of hidden
objects/rooms/plants/creatures and the like.  But once
discovery occurs you need to provide a tracking mechanism 
so characters don't have to continually rediscover static
items.

> 
> Section 5
> 
> 5.6        Sacrificing Items
> 
> A player should be able to sacrifice items to the
> Deities, giving the Deity Mana appropriate to the item
> sacrificed. 

I favor the idea of more complex rituals.  Sacrifice of worthless
and unneeded items may in fact be considered an insult.

> 
> Section 8
> 
> Merchants and Plants
> 

I like his obsession with flora.  Muds could use a lot more flora.

> 
> 9.7        Inns and Homes
> 
> Ah yes.  What to do with the character when the player
> wants to rest?
> 
I like keeping the player in the game.  And players should be
encouraged to find an appropriate place of safekeeping.  I don't
particularly favor draining the occasional player dry of all
there hard won assets.

> 
> 10.4        Mobile Reproduction
> 10.4.1        Character Reproduction
> 10.5        Mobile Generating Plants

Interesting.  Kind of like the life simulation.  Methinks this
sort of uncontrolled random mating would get highly confusing
in a role-playing environment.  I prefer to model this quite a bit
more abstractly.

> 
> 12.0        Communication
> 
> This is the essence of the MUD, and one of the hardest
> areas to work out.  I have found that being on MUDs
> where global communication was not possible was very
> boring.  I have also been on muds that had so much
> global communication as to be annoying.  I've decided
> to try something different, staying within the relms
> of what I consider "realistic".

I don't like any sort of global communication.  I'd rather
form more natural nexuses (nexi?) of player congregation in the mud
world.  
I will only add this if it really proves to be troublesome.