[MUD-Dev] Re: Administrative notes

[Nathan Yospe]

On Sun, 18 May 1997, Adam Wiggins wrote:

:[Nathan Y:]
:> I like to think that, even for a fighter, most of the effort should go
:> into _avoiding_ fights... unless you think you can win, or, say, you are
:> providing a diversion for someone else or defending a position that needs
:> defending, or have been paid/ordered/offended into killing that _specific_
:> person.

:Right.  You pick the fights you can win.  Also, not all (in fact, I'd
:like to think most) fights don't end in the death of one of the oponents.

This is true. However, I like having fights between large forces armed
with weapons of mass destruction. This tends to lead to a one-hit-you're-
dead philosophy. Not absolutely... most hits result in loss of a limb,
rather than death... but if you don't have a team to back you up, and you
lose a limb, and you are lying in agony in a pool of your own blood, the
chances that your opponents are _not_ going to shoot you where you lie are
small. Of course, armor is at a premium as well, and battlesuits, and
large tanks... and wormhole beacons, which grab you in the case of severe
system shock and dump you in a medical facility.

:> :Why?  Why, why, why, why?  I don't get it.
:> :If you want to be good at something, you do it a lot.  What is the problem
:> :with becoming a good healer by healing, becoming a good fighter by fighting,
:> :and becoming a good juggler by juggling?  You just don't like for thinks
:> :to make any sort of sense?
 
:> Your choice. A bit dull, but your choice. I don't see anything wrong with
:> choosing non combat not dangerous skills. Aside from the fact that I have

:Yeah, I wasn't making any judgement on whether it was dull or not.  I wouldn't
:want to just stand around and heal, but who am I to decide what's fun for
:someone else?  I exchanged some email with Marian on this a while back; she
:was saying that she'd probably actually do this, if she could, since for
:her socialization and helping people out is the most rewarding part of the
:game.  So what's the matter with that?

True. Actually, I used to spend most of my time playing the woodsguide
role, back when I played dikus... in spite of the fact that it meant I
leveled at less than a tenth the rate of others around me.

:> rigged my game to kill those sort of people unless they get _real_ good at
:> running and hiding. *grin*

:Well, it depends just how violent your mud is.  In a game like the pen
:and paper Cyberpunk (which seems to be the closest comparison to your
:mud, Nathan) people die all the time in violent and gruesome manners,
:whether they themselves engange in violence or not.

The analogy I draw is nazi occupied europe during WW2... except on a
galactic scale. Its a brutal game, yes... especially as you are homefront
resistance, after the homefront has lost.

:> Seems to me a healer's biggest worry is failure. A healer that fails, say,
:> to heal some big ogre of a barbarian's brother may have some traveling to
:> do real soon.

:Sure.  Or how about the pain when they set that bone...ogre starts swinging
:his fists around...
:Also, it depends what sort of a healer you're talking about.  An herbalist
:has to worry about travelling the lands to find the herbs he needs.  A
:doctor has to learn different kinds of anatomies, try to keep her tools
:clean (or even FIND any descent tools), etc.  A cleric is a whole other
:ball of wax...trying to stay in their god's favor, making pilgramages,
:watching out for those that aren't too kind to their religion (namely,
:clerics of their god's enemies).  So 'risk' becomes less about just
:death.  It's a matter of surmounting the obstacles which present themselves
:in attempting to achieve whatever your goal is.  If your goal is to be
:the best swordsman in the land -- well, that's quite a tall order.  If
:your goal is to be a barfly who sits in the tavern playing cards, drinking
:ale, and bullshitting with anyone who will lend an ear - well, sure it's
:easy!  You're not asking for much!  I suspect most players will land
:somewhere inbetween; trying to be the best herbalist they can by wandering
:the land looking for rare plants, teachers and books who can give them
:more knowledge...which in turn means they need supplies or whatever, and
:so will probably perform services for other players in order to make a living
:(as well as give themselves yet more practical knowledge).  Or even more
:likely, they'll just know they are in search of adventure - along the
:way they will learn various skills, gain favor with kingdoms and gods,
:etc etc.  The goals are broader, more vague - but they are still goals,
:and IMO better, more compelling ones.

Yeah, I tend to take the same philosophy. Not completely the same
direction with it... but the philosophy of determining your own goals. Of
course, having an ultimate evil that needs to be destroyed is a bit of a
deterent to that sort of thing... until you consider that, A) the evil is
a bit much for anything short of nearly a hundred well trained soldiers
with a LOT of battle gear, and B) who says that YOUR goal has anything to
do with destroying that evil? Why not be a colaborator? Or just a
merchant, getting rich off of both sides? Or whatever role you want to
play? I'm figuring a year or so before the first time someone gets to the
point where they can make a go at the big baddie... a few years before
anyone pulls it off.

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  /_  / / ) /_  /_) / ) /| /| / /\            First Light of a Nova Dawn
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Nathan F. Yospe - University of Hawaii Dept of Physics - yospe at hawaii.edu