[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[J C Lawrence]

On Mon, 27 Jul 1998 09:53:51 -0500 
Koster, Raph<rkoster at origin.ea.com> wrote:

>> From: Caliban Tiresias Darklock
>> 
>> On 11:16 PM 7/26/98 -0500, I personally witnessed Damion Schubert
>> jumping up to say:

>>> ...in Meridian, I always was ashamed that player weapon >repair
>>> was only done magically, with a 'mend' spell.  Blacksmithing just
>>> seemed to keep slipping off the schedule.  The players didn't
>>> care.

>> Players NEVER care. We keep talking about all these things, all
>> this stuff, that NO ONE CARES ABOUT.

> Not to quarrel with Damion (everyone always expects me to quarrel
> with Damion!) but some players DO care, and it isn't quite as
> absolute a rule as what you two state. :) 

Let's distinguish a bit here:

  Players will care that they have to change their clothes every XXX
time (or whatever the chore de jour is), and will leave a game if it
continues.

  Players will care that they can't use their blacksmithing skills to
mend weaponry or armour, and will campaign for that "feature" to be
added, but few to none will leave the game due to its absence.

Yes, they care about both of them.  One however motivates them in
directions we care about a lot, and the other motivates only a small
number in manners we care a little about.

> There are ALWAYS things that players see a hint of and want to be in
> the game, too. (I've certainly heard enough people ask for X feature
> in MM6!). 

cf Black clothing.

> In UO players decided that by gosh, they ought to be able to animate
> dead. After all, there are NPC skeletons. From that, a whole
> necromancy project arose, with research pages and feature lists and
> all sorts of stuff. There is no necromancy whatsoever in the
> game. But many players are convinced there is. Some features,
> players will indeed care about.

Bingo.

> In an example more suited to the thread of your discussion: in UO
> you cannot repair bows. You can repair melee weapons, but not
> bows. (And yeah, how much sense does it make to fasten together a
> bow once it breaks?) 

I have a little background in bowyering.  Excluding compound bows,
very minor damage is repairable, *some* slightly worse damage can be
partially handled with a bit of laminating and binding with silk but
you end up with a bow that shouldn't be trusted.  Really, anything
much more than a few nicks or a broken string means replacing the bow.
Compound bows *can* be a bit more lenient as they can be shaved and
re-laminated and bound to end up with a nearly-as-good bow, but still
can't sustain much damage without needing to be trashed.

> Players still scream for that feature. It makes sense not to have
> it; it's also the sort of feature that is exactly the sort of
> omission your posts describe. But some will clamor for it anyway...

Why, in Quake, can't I shoot straight up?  

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...