[MUD-Dev] Starting characters (was: Alright...)

[Jon A. Lambert]

> From: Jamie Norrish <jamie at sans.vuw.ac.nz>
> 
> What I wrote was that, from a role-playing point of view, having
> mechanics get in the way of what I want to achieve. If my character
> conception is of an experienced soldier, then I expect the system to
> fit that. But there aren't many games where the admins will allow this
> sort of thing - "play balance" they say, or "we're afraid of
> munchkins". To my mind, neither of those reasons are sufficient - I
> was very annoyed on Armageddon that I could not play an older
> character from the very start.
> 
> You see, in a role-playing game, where character is important and the
> mechanics are good only to the extent that they don't get in the way,
> there is no need for play balance, and no real need to fear munchkins
> (who would find such a game boring, I am sure). Just because the
> system says I am very good at building houses, for example, doesn't
> mean that I can't play a master builder right from the outset.
> 
> End rant. And this had better get through.
> 
This is exactly what I have in mind, more or less.  When a person
logs into my mud, they in essence get a user account, not a particular
character.  The first-time user will be able to create a character
from scratch similar to most muds.  Users who exhibit good 
role-playing skills will have their character creation menus extended
to allow them to create more powerful, older and otherwise more 
experienced characters or to play NPCs within the game.  Multiplaying 
and/or game mastering will be enabled for those who exhibit more 
ability and responsibility.  There are a number of levels of trust here 
between allowing creation of brand new "newbie" characters to 
multiplaying or game mastering.  Some of these will require character 
or scenario approval by the imp (me).  A lot of these restrictions have 
less to do with game balance than thematic consistency which I consider 
to be more important.

You do have to perform a form of screening as you have little
control over who logs into your game.  Your right that most of
these players will get bored and leave of the own accord.  You
also want to ensure their time on the game doesn't interfere with
the enjoyment of your targeted player base.


JL