[MUD-Dev] Something complete different

[Travis S. Casey]

On Mon, 20 Oct 1997, Brandon J. Rickman wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Oct 1997, Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl> wrote:

> >> I am, it turns out, not after realism at all.  I am interested in 
> >> storytelling.
> 
> >This is a distinction that occasionally causes heated debates  on the
> >various mud newsgroups. Realism in muds does not mean 'like the world
> >in which we live'.  Rather it means that the world behaves consistent
> >and predictable.  This includes that rabbits are easily killed every-
> >where or nowhere (to borrow from another subject on this list) and it
> >means that people should not, in general manipulate more objects than
> >they can hold in their hands.

Well... realism doesn't necessarily even mean that.  There are several
things that people use the word "realism" to talk about when they're
talking about RPGs:

1 - Being like the real world.  This is what most people think of first
    when they see "realism" used.

2 - Internal consistency and logic.  This is a common definition of
    "realism," especially when talking about RPGs that are modelling 
    some other world than the real world.  This doesn't mean that,
    for example, rabbits should be equally easy/hard to kill everywhere,
    but it *does* mean that all rabbits should be roughly as hard to
    kill *unless there is a good in-game reason for a particular rabbit
    to be otherwise.*

3 - Consistency with source material.  This one really only applies to
    games which are set in a world that someone else created, but since
    many muds are set up that way, I wanted to mention it.  As an 
    example, it would be "unrealistic" to have a typical fantasy mage
    show up in a mud based on Anne McAffrey's Pern novels, or to have 
    a laser gun turn up in a mud based on Tolkein's Lord of the Rings.

4 - Genre consistency.  This is the "generic" version of #3 -- in 
    general, a "realistic" mud should pick one kind of background and
    stick to it.  Unless your theme is based on the mixture of two or
    more genres, it's best not to draw things from other genres into
    your game.  In particular, it's best not to borrow things that are
    specific to a world in another genre -- e.g., Klingons in a 
    fantasy game.

IMHO, the best way of summing up what "realism" means is "set up in a
way that helps the suspension of disbelief."  To find a Klingon roaming
around in a fantasy landscape reminds the player that this isn't real.

Thus, what's "realistic" for one game may not be "realistic" for another.
If you're basing your mud on Jackie Chan-style action movies, then one
highly-trained combatant should be able to take on several less-skilled 
combatants and win -- to do otherwise would go against the expectations
that your players would reasonably have.  On the other hand, though, if
you're basing a mud on dark & dirty spy fiction (e.g., John Le Carre), you
should use a combat system which puts combatants at more of a disadvantage
when fighting multiple opponents.