[MUD-Dev] Fear of magic (was:Usability and interface)

[Derrick Jones]

On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, Brandon J. Rickman wrote:

> On Sun, 2 Nov 1997 15:15:06 PST8PDT,
> Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl> wrote:
> >On Sun 02 Nov, Sauron wrote:
> >> why? seriously you either place your character in a "safe room" where
> >> they cant be attacked (if the game allows such rooms) or you leave your
> >> connection active (their are numerous programs out there that will
> >> reconnect for you if you get dumped) and it is not very hard to program
> >> a simple script that will run when attacked or respond by saying run a
> >> room, hide, when X enters, attack X, run, etc.
> >
> >You're joking right? I can't afford to leave my computer connected all
> >day even if I wanted to. And no, things like those automatic reactions
> >may be simple for you but I wouldn't know how to begin. Not to mention
> >that I have no interest in finding out because I do not enjoy the type
> >of game it implies.
> 
> The point of this is when you are playing the game you should be
> on the edge of your seat (danger at every turn, if you don't know that
> expression), but when you aren't playing *you aren't playing.*
> Screw the "unrealistic" or inconsistent consequences, the game is
> there for me to enjoy on an immediate level.

Yes, I was being thoroughly sarcastic in suggesting players should stay
connected.  But your character can remain in-game even though you are not
on-line, in which case you are not playing, but your character is.
Here's a question that just occured to me: should players skills improve
through activities performed when they are off-line? (Or should they gain
experience for exp-based systems) Imagine for example that a thief breaks
into the house and the (offline) character uses spells/skills via simple
automation to save his/her life/possessions.  The character used the
skills in a danger situation, which fits the gaining criteria for most
systems, and therefore the _character_ should be more learned when the
player returns.  The _player_, however learned nothing in the encounter,
and would probably wonder how a dead thief managed to lay down at the
characters feet...

> Here's a crazy thought: a mud is like a gym.  Some people go to the
> gym in the morning, some in the afternoon, some in the evening.
> Each crowd tends to have some common characteristics (the morning
> people are salarymen working out before work, students in the 
> afternoon, singles in the evening) but there are always exceptions.
> Most people go to the gym just to improve their stats.  But whatever
> competition occurs between people has to happen simultaneously.
> 
> Hm, I seem to have strayed a bit from the original subject.  Make
> that a four dimensional gym, a three dimensional world that exists
> "inside" the gym and the fourth where the players step in and
> out through time.

The analogy breaks down if you decide to follow someone home from the gym.
Your character can't follow a linkless character back through the web to
exact some revenge.  (although I've known of one case where a guy
reportedly drove three states to beat up someone for Pkilling them...)

Gunther