[MUD-Dev] Mud Games

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  6 Sep 97 at 17:45, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> 
> [I'm a little unsteady at the moment, since I've just been to my birthday
> party, but will attempt to reply]

Hopefully, you left the cows alone. 
<insert obligatory sheep comment here>

> Heh. Wow. Thats quite a party trick. This also brings some interesting
> thoughts to my mind as to 'thematic equivalents' for rodeos and such -
> sounds like they could be great fun as well as good shows of physical
> prowess.

Hmmm.  Why don't muds implement....(well some may, but off the top of 
my head)

Horse racing, Bull fighting, cock fighting, frog jumping.
Running, swimming, three-legged race, sack race, marathon.
Archery contests, Taber tossing, Rock/shot/discus throwing, weight 
lifting, Gladiator events, wrestling, boxing, martial arts.
Horse shoes, rowing, canoeing.
hrrm.. team sports like mud-football(?)..

I think games were very common as were the events that hosted them.  
Fairs have been around since medieval times. The Greeks and Romans 
used any excuse to hold a feast often explicitly for games or 
tournaments.   

Did you know the Greeks played two-man/woman tag?  
An oyster shell was tossed in the air.  If it landed white (inner) 
side up that person became the pursuer, otherwise the other person 
did.   

> The jousting tournament and other medieval things are somewhat cliched,
> and I'd like to think of something original, hmm.
> Catch-the-greased-swamp-dragon? :P

Then again I haven't seen jousting implemented, so it might not be a 
mud cliche yet.

Some questions come to mind. 
Take the simple(?) case of a character racing event. 

Can one effectively implement a "race" in a mud?  
What sort of mud structures would be needed?  
What sort of presentation do you deliver the racer?
Would user input be needed to sustain a racing character?
What sort of character stats are important?  
Exhaustion, stride, quickness, agility, strength, etc.?
Room-based or coordinate-based?
What's the player FUN quotient here?

--
Jon A. Lambert
"The gates were wide that led through the earthward rampart of the 
country beyond moon's rising. He went therein, and the golden age was 
over." - Edward Plunkett