[MUD-Dev] Re: Leaving characters in play

[Ben Greear]

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Joel Kelso wrote:

> I was thinking about the problems of having a space
> trading/warfare/colonization
> MUD that gives a sense of size and distance in space, while still
> allowing player
> interaction. One of the problems is (and I notice that some recent posts
> refer too
> the same problem in the context of UO) that you need a world that is
> large enough
> for players to travel in and colonise with a real feeling of
> exploration; but which is
> small enough to allow frequent player interaction.

I'm using 8 byte floating point coordinates, I don't think I'll run out of
space any time soon :)  I'll also have global channels, which won't take
speed of light into account as far as communications goes (though
transmit power will be an issue.)

> 
> The idea I came up with (or re-invented: there might really be new
> ideas, but
> _I've_ never had one :-) was to use "hyperspace jumps" between star
> systems as
> a way allowing controlled interaction. The idea is that when players
> leave the
> game, they are either docked safely at some station, or they launch
> themselves
> into a hyperspace jump. While in hyperspace, they are completely removed

Hrm, was gonna have such portals, but they would really link between
different servers, and I had planned on the jumps being near 
instantaneous.  A similar idea though, like coasting at low velocity at
the outer edges of the universe, with all external power off and or
perhaps cloaked (In other words, very hard to find or interract with)
might be a good survival strategy.  And it's one that would require no
extra code to deal with....

> starship. A player who can log on for a short amount of time every 3-4
> days
> could run a slow (but fuel efficient) long-jumping trader ship or a
> patrol ship,
> while a dedicated student player might be part of a millitary fleet and
> be
> expected to log in at all sorts of strange hours to interecept an enemy
> fleet
> or take part in a fleet battle.

Hrm, that gives me an idea.  The cost for a portal-jump could be
much higher than a slower approach such as you mention here.  Both
would still be > lightspeed, but, if I can get portal jumps by
fiat, then I can sure as hell get something slower :)

> 
> Anyway thats the gist of it.
> 
> Joel Kelso
> 
> -- joel at ee.uwa.edu.au --------------------------------------------
> "Wasn't it a four-year-old this time ? It makes me feel like standing
> in the middle of the Atlantic with a megaphone and shouting:
> 'America! We know you're in there! Put the guns DOWN!'"
>  - Overheard Conversations
> -- http://dugite.ee.uwa.edu.au/~joel --------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.
> 


Ben Greear (greear at cyberhighway.net)  http://www.primenet.com/~greear 
Author of ScryMUD:  mud.primenet.com 4444
http://www.primenet.com/~greear/ScryMUD/scry.html



--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.