[MUD-Dev] Re: Less numbers, more roleplaying.

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On Sat, 1 Nov 1997 15:53:53 PST8PDT, coder at ibm.net wrote:

>However the best experience one would get from playing any MUD (that has a
>rank system or money system where competition is inevitable) is to forget
>about the exp system and the money system and just follow your character's
>instincts

I'm a big fan of game systems that have no such status and money
systems, viz. the WoD genre of MUSHes. My particular favorite, eating
easily fifty times the amount of effort I put into other games, is Cajun
Nights. While there is a rank system, that rank system is dependent
mainly upon selections made during character generation, and upon the
recommendations of those higher in rank than you are. Vampire society is
the easiest to use as an example; you may select a high status and low
generation (providing you with a higher 'rank' to begin with), but that
status will decrease or increase based on the activity you indulge in
within the game. 

Money is relegated to a simple statistic -- 0 being completely broke, 1
being poor, 2 being struggling, 3 being comfortable, 4 being
independently wealthy, and 5 being fantastically rich. That's about the
only way it's handled. While you can within the game increase your
resources to a level as high as 3 (and rather easily -- my character has
resource level 4, and can thus employ several other characters at
resource level 3 without breaking a sweat), increasing it to four or
five requires someone with that level of wealth to leave it to you in an
IC will and testament. There is a system outlined in the rulebooks for
increasing resource levels through investment, but it's tedious and
annoying and no one ever follows it.

It can be argued that this is in fact a system, and this is true.
However, this sort of system is more or less perception -- when you
create the character, you set a certain level of money and status, and
from that point everything that you do with respect to that advancement
is completely controlled by your actions in the game and controlled not
by a program (with associated glitches and holes), but by actual human
beings who I do NOT envy. Imagine a MUD where every single experience
level you gained had to be specifically justified to a human being who
would read your justification, confirm it with others involved in the
justification, and approve or veto it! And even worse: imagine that even
though you've invested a tremendous amount of effort in justifying a
level increase, that level increase is purely social -- and people can
completely ignore it!

I sort of like this, but then a large part of that is that I tend to be
good at raising my apparent status without having to spend the effort
justifying it. In other words, I could sit at the MUD equivalent of
level 5, and be treated like I was level 40... which in a social context
is just as good.

Just a perspective from the field. Take it for what it's worth... maybe
it sounds like a good idea for your game, maybe it sounds like it would
suck. I like this sort of thing, but then I do well at it -- and if I
didn't do well at it, I'd probably hate it. Fodder for further thoughts.

=+[caliban at darklock.com]=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=[http://www.darklock.com/]+=
"It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more 
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a 
new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by 
the preservation of the old institution, and merely lukewarm defenders in 
those who would gain by the new one."                      -- Machiavelli
=+=+=+[We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams]+=+=+=+=