[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.y

[Adam Wiggins]

[Derrick Jones:]
> On Wed, 12 Nov 1997, Adam Wiggins wrote:
> > I like slower timescales.  They take care of this problem pretty
> > nicely; 24 mud hours for us is about 2.5 RL hours.  Since I can go
> > pretty easily for 24 hours after eating a big meal, I figure people
> > that don't want to worry much about food can fill up and not have to
> > worry about it for several hours of play.  Of course, this still doesn't
> > solve the basic problem, which is that diku/lp-style food is pretty
> > boring no matter how little you have to do it, and as I always
> > say I don't see much point to putting something in the game that doesn't
> > add anything in particular.
> 
> True, the buy bread/eat bread/buy water/drink water cycle is boring.  Most
> players automate this to avoid the tedium.  Add a level of complexity to
> the food system so that players have reason to actually watch what they
> eat.  Personally, if it came down to ignoring food and using DIKU food
> code, I'd cut out food altogether.  Fortunately there are other options.

Ayup.

> As for the slower timescale, they begin to be annoying while waiting for
> your character to naturally regain strength.

Depends on how your system is set up.  If you have a normal mud hitpoint
system where you regularly fight your way down to 1 hit point and then wait
30 RL minutes for your hitpoints to get back to full, this only agrivates
that situation.  However, I consider this a serious problem to begin with,
so I considered getting rid of *that* whole routine to be the overall solution.

> Also they become unmanagible
> if you require actions take time (Yes, you'd only have to eat once every
> couple hours, but you'd spend 15 minutes cooking/eating)

*shrug*, 15 real life minutes is about three mud hours.  I don't spend
three RL hours cooking every time I eat.  Now, it may take a little time,
but if characters are 'forced' to forage for food while out in the wild
for three RL minutes or wait for their food to cook at the local inn
for two RL minutes, I'm not bothered.  In the first case they are doing
something fun (using ranger-style skills to interact with our complex
wilderness) and in the second case they have some free time where they
might end up (gasp!) interacting with other players.

The moral of the story is that any given element should get a slice of time
equal to the value it adds to the game.  I consider food to be low
priority, so a ratio of 1:60 seems just fine to me.  I *do* think it
adds value, in a lot of ways.  Even diku-style bread and water ends up
causing people to come back to town every so often to 'stock up', which is
a phenomenon that I like.  It means socializing (the fountain is always
a busy place) and taking a breather from the main part of the gameplay.
I see it sort of like walking downstairs to get a soda - the trip in itself
isn't necessarily worth anything, but resting my eyes and stretching my
legs and exchanging a word or two with my roommate makes a nice break
after a few hours of constant computer-use.