[MUD-Dev] Unique items (was: Graphic MUDS/Ultima Online)

[Marian Griffith]

On Sat 31 Jan, Brandon J. Rickman wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Adam Wiggins <nightfall at user2.inficad.com> wrote:

> There is an expectation that a simulated forest would be filled with
> simulated leaves and sticks.  In most cases those leaves and
> sticks are of very little interest, and some executive voice says
> just leave them out.  Someone looking for sticks obviously
> thinks they are interesting, but this is usually considered rare,
> especially in a world where the main activities are: killing
> monsters and resting from killing monsters (One might say GoP,
> I'm not quite comfortable with the term).

> You _could_ constantly add random sticks to the world at regular
> intervals, on the chance that someone is looking for them.  But 
> after considering the number of possible things that could possibly
> be found/sought for in a specific terrain, and the number of terrains
> in a large mud world, this becomes messy.

Maybe you could just point out locations in the world where -something-
can be found of a certain rarity.  If somebody comes along, looking for
things they may find whatever is hidden there (depending on how well it
is hidden) and only then it is determined what actually had been hidden
there.  You could even make it so that if you are looking for something
specific the chances increase that you find that (or something similar)
like how if you've sprained your ankle  you suddenly see people walking
with crutches everywhere even though before you did not notice.  If you
are looking for the key to that castle  you start finding keys far more
regularly than you would otherwise. And somebody looking for sticks has
a higher chance of finding one.

> But back to the question, does running back and forth 10,000 times 
> increase the chances of finding the Key by 10,000x?  Yes, certainly,
> if the Key hasn't already be found, and if you have the time to run
> back and forth 10,000 times (that would probably take about three
> hours if the server doesn't boot you for spamming).  And if the 
> discovery chance for the Key is 1 in 1,000,000 your chances are still
> pretty slim.
> Of course, while your chances of discovering a specific item are small,
> the odds are in favor of discovering _something_ of value.  Like maybe
> a handful of copper coins. :)

> There should be some mechanism that increases the chances of 
> discovery of things in relatively unexplored areas.  So while running
> back and forth does increase one's chances, wandering around will be
> much more rewarding, and that is a key reason as to why this might 
> be interesting: to encourage players to explore or at least to make
> occasionaly forays into unknown areas (where they will be summarily
> killed and eaten by horribly twisted monsters).

Somebody at mume explained that this is not necessary. If you just put
those things anywhere in the world until they are found then very soon
anything of value can only be found in relatively unexplored areas. On
any other locations things will be found quickly  and moved to another
location.  Only if it is at a rarely travelled path will it stay for a
while.

> As the players migrate across the world (if they refuse, burn down
> Midgaard) they explore new areas, and older areas become forgotten (the
> devastated ruins of the goblin castle).  In exploring new areas the
> indeterminacy of things is applied on a different scale: houses, farms,
> dungeons are placed by probability.

> In such a case, the role of builders is to create highly modular pieces
> of scenery and write some nice code to put the pieces together.

Ick. How many builders can code, or even want to? There are other dis-
advantages with this idea also,  but this is not the thread to go into
that subject.

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