[MUD-Dev] Re: Administrative notes

[Miroslav Silovic]

> 
> Exactly.  A Roleplayer, according to my twisted view, might create a 
> warrior that had a very weak strength and may also select background 
> options that would have a severe impact on their combat

Umm, uhh, errr, you're wrong. :) Roleplayers won't do this without
a good /reason/. Now, one of my characters happens to deal the biggest
damage in the game (partly unintentionally, but, err, there is also
a glitch in the rules on that game). After about 15 seconds of
interacting with anybody, I usually manage to pass over intimidating
presence, 'silent avenger' concept, and 'stay away or I'll slice you
to tiny bits' demeanor. Result: That character actually almost never
gets to fight. He almost never gets to speak, either (evil grin).
Creative emotes, and extensive description of gestures and body
language to the trick.

Another thing I'd consider doing is creating a child who is born
thief. You know the type from the fantasy books, don't you? :)
Quote, 'Sure sir, i'll get it for ya right away.' (while collecting
his payment in advance, by ripping off this customer... :) )

> effectiveness (cowardice, epilepsy, etc.).  A Rollplayer *boggles* at this 
> concept.  Many of todays muds preclude such a character from "developing" 
> in any significant way.   Character power or perfection seems to be the
> only goals.  An entire rethink of game systems is definately in order.

My point here: There is no need for roleplayers to be 'weak'. It simply
has no relevance to them - most can actually become *extremely* strong
characters. The important issue is being *completely clear* about why
the character does something.

And this is the point where reworking is needed: The supercharacter I
mentioned above would be completely unable to advance on the standard,
slash-to-get-XP MUD. But since I'm running him on 'XP by player votes',
he easily gets lots of XP - after all, wouldn't you vote for somebody
who just used /text/ to scare shit out of you (and yes, I managed to do
exactly that, several times with various people).

On the other hand, merely powerful characters never managed to scare me.
You see, the most they can do is to rearrange a few bites in the database.
Roleplayers, at least those that know how to deal with other players,
learn to sense what the other players' triggers are, and use them in much
the same way actors trigger people who watch them (i.e. when you watch
Jack Nicholson, you /know/ it's not his scenario writer that did the
magic).

	Miro