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

[Adam Wiggins]

[Marian Griffith:]
> It still is the way I like to play, even if it is not the 'official' way
> to play muds.

I think this is the key to the whole issue.  If you get rid of an
'official' (or, more accurately, 'standard') method to play the game,
it will simutaneously appeal to more players from different backgrounds
and with different ideas of what's fun, and be more flexible and
thereby more entertaining in the long run to the players as a whole.
Of course, the hard part about this is that it's difficult to make a game
which seems to have some sort of purpose to it, especially when you first
start the game.  I think Ultima Online has done a very good job with this
sort of an approach, but still the main complaint I hear (especially from
those used to the more directed form of playin single player computer games)
is that they can't figure out what they should be doing when they start
the game.
Personally I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this.  We've touched
on it before but I don't think ever dived in very deeply.  Usually the
short answers are 'good, accessable documentation' and 'good character
creation.'  Also we've talked about newbie guides (NPCs with a script or
players who volunteer themselves) taking you through the
basic features of the game in an interactive tour (a great idea, IMO, one
I've seen used to excellent effect on several muds).  Still, these
are just tack-on features, ones that try to make the user more at home
in an unfamiliar environment.  When they actually go to dive into the game
on their own, what can they _do_ right away that is productive and at
least mildly entertaining for them?  I tend to think this is highly dependant
on the given game, so I was wondering what (if anything) the various folks
with well-defined game ideas (Nathan, Raph, Jeff K, maybe JC...?) plan
on allowing or requiring new players to do first.  Commonly players are
just tossed into a random town with a message of 'Good luck' at which point
they type 'score' and see that they need three points to reach Rank 2.
Simple, boring, and linear - not to mention, with the complex skill systems,
body-stealing, or other methods of character advancement availible, this
doesn't work anyhow.