[MUD-Dev] more classes (Usability and interface and who the

[coder at ibm.net]

On 01/10/97 at 12:29 PM, "Brian Price" <blprice at bedford.net> said: >[JCL:]

>>   The sense of advancement provides attractive goals for players.

>Do you believe a mud can be successful if it puts much less emphasis  on
>advancement, and much more on adventuring?  Especially if  mechanisms are
>in place which mutate the game as it is played?  

I won't argue the definition of "success".  

Yes.  This is essentially equivalent to concentrating on Bartle's
Explorers from his Hearts...Spades, paper.  It is essentially selecting a
slightly different public based on their interest in a game.

>Also, what exactly is character advancement?  Does not the gaining of 
>equipment which makes one more powerful qualify?  As well as  advanced
>training in exotic skills?  The aquisition of wealth?  The  aquisition of
>power?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.  Advancement could be defined in two ways:

  -- Increased ability to survive (mostly demonstrated as increased
ability to withstand or defeat old dangers).

  -- Increased ability to affect the game world.

Both are closely related and often synonymous.  I seperate them only to
highlight the concentration of the effect each change has on the
character's abilities.

Another possible split that could be made is:

  -- advancement means that the character is now capable of more than it
was.

  -- advancement means that the character has different capabilities than
it did.

The former is the old model.  Advancement is really a form of aggregation. 
Endless accumulation with nothing lost in the process.  The latter is the
really interesting one.  Characters change as they advance such that their
capabilities and even roles are different to what they were prior to
advancement.  This could be extended to the point that characters of
different levels of advancement inhabited the same, but were engaged in
entirely seperate games.

A possible model:

  Players start life as something that fairly clsoely resembles a chimp.

  Given sufficient work, they mature into an aquatic form which can't
survive out of water.  There is a cross-over period where the form can
live in air or water, (poorly in both).

  They then mature into a mobile tree-like form which is confined to being
near water.

  Niven-esque stage-tree-like the trees blast into orbit.

  ...etc.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...