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

[Damion Schubert]

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael.Willey at abnamro.com <Michael.Willey at abnamro.com>
This is the point at which we differ - you see a reputation
>as a method of controlling the "bad guys".  I see it as a
>tool to make NPCs more believable, by using that information
>to influence their reactions.  The two uses aren't mutually
>exclusive, but improvements to one use of the tool can
>degrade it's usefulness in other areas.


I've seen many interesting NPCs, but rarely any I would 
classify as 'believable', without stretching my definition.

On Meridian 59, we handcrafted each NPC's dialogue, 
giving each a unique personality, and scripting as much
speech as we could before our brains started to fry.  We 
also put in a political game, where you can take sides 
with one faction or the other.  The game keeps track of
who's in what faction, who's winning, and which players 
are real powerhorses in the whole faction scenario (i.e.
kills other players for the other side who are holding 
magical 'tokens'....  you get the idea).  We then gave
some of the NPCs a bias in the whole thing, where they
would treat you like a hero or a scoundrel based upon your
affiliation.  

Player response?  They generally thought the NPCs were
stupid and repeated stuff too often.

--damion