[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface

[Adam Wiggins]

> Previously, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote....
> > On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 21:43:02 PST8PDT, Adam Wiggins
> > >to solve a certain quest (which I have detailed on this list before); many
> > >spellbooks were written in different languages (written being a different
> > >skill than spoken, of course); 
> > 
> > I don't find that any of these are terribly additive to the game. You
> > lock anyone who can't find an elf out of Moria; you prevent anyone who
> > can't speak demon or conjure a demon out of a quest; and you lock
> > spellbooks out of the accessibility of people. Languages are like locks,
> > you slap them on something and then the player ends up with this simple
> > binary 'yes/no' thing as to whether they gain any benefit. 
> 
> I think locking spellbooks out of the hands of the masses is a good thing. 
> You don't want Bubba the barbarian who can barely add 2 numbers together
> trying to cast magic do you?  Magic is best left to the professionals. 
> However having one consistant language for magic makes far more sense.

Actually, I brought up that particular example, because that was extremely
useful on another mud I used to work on.  Nabbing spells out of other mages'
spellbooks was a great way to get spells, especially if that mage was the only
one with the spell and didn't feel like sharing.  Writing your spellbook in
an obscure language was a good defence, since it makes life that much harder
on whoever's trying to nab your book.  Plus we tended to drop spells into
the game by dropping scrolls or spellbooks scribed in obscure/difficult
languages, which resulted in a party slaying the lich, getting the spellbook,
then the mage looking it over and saying, 'I can't read this.  We need
a translator.'  Now they are forced to either learn the language (difficult
to just do on the fly) or find someone to translate.  Of course, what's to
stop Bubba the aspiring mage who sure would like that spell for himself from
pretending to be a translator long enough to nab the spell?  Zany fun ensues.