[MUD-Dev] Re: evil - good realism

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 21 Oct 1998 19:25:15 +0200 (MET DST) 
Vladimir Prelovac<tomcat at galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu> wrote:

> I've got this question. Suppose I make a perfect, realistic mud,
> and have dark and light races conflicting over the ages. Player
> can choose to play either one, and the final goal of the game is
> that your race finnaly rules the land.  Ok, trouble:

> Most of the items in the game that evil folks wear and use are
> marked !GOOD (for those not familiar, it means that good aligned
> people cant wear or use that item). And the other way around. For
> reality's sake, I would certainly prohibit good people killing
> good people, and evil killing evil, forcing the war between good
> and evil. Thats nice. But most of the things good players would
> then get would have !GOOD flag on it! And the other way
> around. How ironic!

Why make it binary?  Why not make it a scale, possibly even a
multi-dimensional scale?  How about *multiple* scale values per
object, each with their own paired probability values?

You could really have fun with this.  

  Consider an object which is 90% good 75% of the time, neutral 15%
of the time, and 100% evil for the remaining 10%.  Its a great
weapon for fighting "evil" characters, until it turns even,
animates, and tries to cut your throat or give itself to your enemy.

  Next add objects which act as wards, weighting objects towards
their major prediliction, or even emphasising a specific side "makes 
objects evil", "makes object neutral", "makes objects more what they 
are", etc. 

  Now have objects whose effectiveness and values are dependant on
their handling within the game.  Treat the Sword Of GooGoo nicely
and feed him mushmallows and he'll stick around.  Slip up and he
starts "accidentally" taking nicks out of you during battles,
cutting the straps to your armour, etc.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at kanga.nu
(Contractor)                              Internet: coder at kanga.nu
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
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