[MUD-Dev] Re: PK and my "Mobless MUD" idea

[Adam Wiggins]

On Fri, 1 May 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
> John Bertoglio<alexb at internetcds.com> wrote:
> > (1) Players will screw it up. UO had a great system on paper. But
> > players messed it up by hoarding creatures in stables and a host of
> > other goofy things
> 
> I have a had time with the idea that such player activities
> necessarily "screw it up".  It smells to more more like insufficient
> feedbacks and dependencies.  Sufficient hoarding *should* result in
> catastrophic deflation which spreads infectiously across the system.

I had an interesting discussion with a few of my co-workers recently.  One
of them is a big UO player.  He was showing me his house and I noticed
several dozen water elementals neatly coraled behind a stack of crates.
He was more than happy to (proudly) explain his business, which is selling
people "pets".  Naturally these creatures aren't pets at all, but rather
punching bags for people to practice on, in the safety of their own
houses.  Apparently water elementals are particularly desireable because
they cast spells at you, which raises your resistance to magic, but he
also sells NPCs which heal or even resurect you (handy to have in your own
house), or in fact any creature that you'd like.  His method of actually
getting the creatures is quite an ordeal, usually involving several hours
of play - first going and finding the creatures (usually in a dungeon),
then tricking them into running into a gate which leads to a coral of
crates outside his house, then getting some friends to help him herd them
into his house and finally set up their prison there.

Everyone else I worked with thought this was "terrible".  They wondered
what the hell was the matter with the game designers that you could do
such a thing.

The perpitrator of this little scheme, however, thinks that it's some of
the most fun he's ever had playing a computer game.  Not only that, but
he feels much more gratified by the results of his actions, because *he*
figured out how to do something that was never thought of by anyone else,
including the game designers.  He doesn't jump through pre-made hoops.

I also thought it was very cool, and the only "realism" problem I see with
it is that you can hold back fierce monsters with simple crates.  But
change the picture of the crates to a glowing rune ala Angband's 'Runes of
Warding' (aha - perfect place for a new mystical skill, runetracing) and
it makes perfect sense.

Apparently most people think this is why Ultima Online has 'failed'. (??)
I believe this is why it keeps so many people enthralled with it for so
long.

Adam



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MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.