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

[Marian Griffith]

On Sat 15 Nov, coder at ibm.net wrote:

> On 09/11/97 at 01:46 PM, Adam Wiggins <nightfall at user2.inficad.com> said:
> >[Marian Griffith:]

I'm going to snip most of this. Not because I disagree but because I can
not find anything to add to it.

> >> It still is the way I like to play, even if it is not the 'official' way
> >> to play muds.

[snip]

> >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.

> This is the core of the problem. This parallels the basic definition
> of what constitutes a game:
>   A game can be defined as any system which contains goals, barriers, and
> freedoms.  

>   Elaborating slightly:

[snipped]

> (if the goal is not immediately obvious) it is (much) more difficult
> to "grab" a potential players attention long enough to convince them
> that this is something they want to invest time in.

> The general solution in such cases is to attempt to use "hooks": things
> that grab and lock attention for just long enough for (hopefully) the
> other "real" qualities to penetrate and confirm.  Games like Myst used
> stunning graphics and music.  Descent uses intrigueing 3D manipulation
> (just flying the hallways was my biggest pleasure for a long time, let
> alone the game itself).  I'm not sure what a flat text MUD could or should
> use profitably.
> Suggestions?

The one advantage that muds still have over other games is that they are
based on text. Many people still prefer reading a book over watching the
movie adaption of it  because the book allows them more freedom. Freedom
to use their imagination,  to create their own pictures  and interpreta-
tion of the characters, scenes and events in the story.  In a movie this
is much harder to do as the pictures are much harder to escape and since
the story has typically to be lobotomised to fit in the 90 or so minutes
that are available to tell the story in the movie. Muds have an inherent
literary possibility that can be more fully explored. If the game itself
allows for it of course.

> Are MUDs about to lose their player base due to the fact that they have
> evolved away from simple, instant, playability?

They do not need to, but if the game itself becomes more complicated you
will have to take care that the player can be hidden from that.  Players
may fiddle with all the buttons, but they should never be forced to.

[snip]

> Points I would rate as valuable upon introduction to a game:
>   -- Awareness that I will be able to do interesting "neat" things in the
> game.

The biggest problem will be what is considered 'neat' and how well that
can be combined in a single game.

>   -- Obvious attention to detail in the game frills.

This is similar to extensive roomdescriptions in a mud.  A large area
consisting of hundreds of identically (and poorly) described rooms is
giving a signal that rooms and descriptions are not important.

>   -- Awareness that there is more to the game than is immediately obvious. 

This seems critical. If you can explain to a new player that there is a
-lot- of world to play in,  and a lot of things she can learn to do you
might have won her attention.

[snip]

I would like to add the following to this little list:

  -- New players can immediately play the game.  They should not be
restricted to a silly training area. Experience should give players
the ability to affect the game.  Lack of experience should not keep
them from playing it.

[snip]

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey