[MUD-Dev] Re: Implementing god.

[Adam J. Thornton]

On Thu, Sep 10, 1998 at 09:48:43AM -0500, Koster, Raph wrote:
> Yep. Tens of thousands of them.

If it's not a secret, how many live accounts *does* UO have now?  What's
the breakdown between adventuring types and entrepreneurial types?

> Instead, most people opt to make running a shop a
> supplementary income, and the "work" involved is stocking the shop. An
> automated NPC we call a "vendor" can be hired (initial setup fee and
> ongoing costs based on value of goods in stock applies) and this NPC
> handles the counter. The role of the player is then to play how they
> like--say, killing orcs--and dropping off the loot they don't want at
> their vendor to serve as stock for the shop.

Which relieves the player of the tedium of having to be the salesman rather
than the acquisitor all day.  But how long does it take to get to the level
of status/riches to be able to have the capital and facilities to open shop
for yourself?  What do players do during that period?

> Of course, a catchall stock like that doesn't tend to do  all that well.
> The most successful merchants are those who corner the market on
> valuable resources, such as the reagents needed for magical spells, or
> healing potions. To do this does indeed involve a huge amount of
> scouring the NPC shops (whom the players treat as wholesalers--they buy
> them out completely, then turn around and resell the items for a markup
> from their vendor). Also successful are the specialty shops, such as
> those that carry only the best of the magical items, or the shops
> devoted to the work of master craftsmen (for example, a grandmaster
> smith's shop can do quite well selling his exceptional goods).

I love the idea of artists' galleries.  Has a coop gallery system evolved? 

However, this already shows a need--in this kind of society, anyway--for
NPCs who are neither targets nor victims.  At least, they're only "victims"
in a very, very loose sense.

> Players suddenly start worrying about things like optimum
> visibility for a trade shop, traffic flow along major corridors of
> travel, issues with warehousing and supply, etc. They're playing a
> different game than they used to, which makes them stay players longer.

This is really cool.

And it answered my question.  Thanks.

Adam
--
adam at princeton.edu 
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman