[MUD-Dev] Re: Administrative notes

[Todd Lair]

[On 05/11/97 Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl> said]

>The simple way to get rid of combat twinks is to have a real (gamewise)
>cost attached to it. Make armour and weaponry expensive to get and
>maintain. Don't give it away for free with each corpse, but make players
>purchase it with a armourer and weaponssmith. Make money hard to get at,
>and make not having it a hazardous lifestyle (e.g. characters can really
>starve to death if they don't eat enough, or the right things). Don't
>reincarnate characters when they get killed but make that dependent on
>the actions of other players. If you don't have friends then your
>characters won't last long. That should make players who are looking to
>fight think twice and give players who don't want to other things to do.

I think this the appropriate way to go.  The only difficulty with this
approach is maintaining the risk involved with non-combative activities. 
Risk is crucial for a good game because you can't really have players
getting reward for typing in ten commands correctly.  This is what is so
attractive about combat for both implementor and player; it provides
substantial risk with possible reward.

For example, a healer type should simply heal.   It's a bit contradictory
to job title if that player must also go out into the world and actually
kill.  Now, you can't have that same player sitting in the middle of town
square healer non threatening injured players while leveling up a storm.

One possible solution would be to force healers to first assume the
injuries of other players and then attempt to heal themselves; that is
they would only be able to heal themselves.  This involves some risk, but
a careful player could be absolved of any substantial risk.

Another solution could involve metal health.  Lack of mental health could
be equally debilitating as an equal lack of physical health.  Thus, a mage
or cleric could cause great harm to themselves using the skills they are
suppose to use.  Spell use would cause great strain on your mental
faculties... and perhaps even insanity.

One other idea I've been toying with would be to keep track of who
attacked a mobile.  An attack would be anything that was intended to
result ultimately in the mobile's demise.  Upon the mobile's death, each
player who successfully attacked the creature would receive an EQUAL
amount experience.  A fighter would receive experience for using his axe,
a mage would gain experience for casting susceptible spells, and a cleric
would receive experience for casting heals on his fellow party members
(indirect attack on the mobile).  Thus, each individual would be awarded
equally for their contribution to the team effort.