[MUD-Dev] Re: Implementing god.

[Andy Cink]

At 10:45 AM 9/12/98 -0400, Adam J Thornton wrote:
>What I don't think I like is UO's skill model, where, as I understand it,
>you have to click eleventy-billion times to be able to make a nice-looking
>suit of clothes.  It's that whole
>first-through-third-level-in-D&D-takes-forever and unless you're playing
>among fist-through-third level players rather than higher-level
>players-it's-not-much-fun-sort-of-thing.

I still remember my first day on UO, when I saw a cat
and decided to kill it. Well, after it killed me I
was just a little shocked. It's one of those games
where being a newbie (like in AD&D) means you start
the game totally weak and incompetent.

>It's having to practice, practice, practice to become a good tailor that is
>realistic but strikes me as likely to cost you players who get bored in the
>interim. 

I think this may be part of the appeal, and what ultimately
keeps players thoroughly addicted to the game. While it
takes 70 million clicks to be a master, most people desire
the benefits of being a master, and so simply work harder
to attain it. And meanwhile, they are forking out the cash
to play the game for the amount of time it takes to accrue
said clicks. I think people are attracted to what they
cannot have, and the large amount of room "for improvement"
as it were, is simply a motivator to play harder.

>I may have vastly misunderstood how Ultima's skills work, however.

No, it's more or less a click fest. (It is also often mediated
by your personal wealth.) The more money you have for raw
materials to practice with, the more you can use the skills
and hence raise them. So it also becomes a search for whatever
it is you need to ply your trade, simply to practice and become
better at it.

Andy

------------------------------------------------------
EARTH FIRST! We'll stripmine the other planets later.
Head Coder for Renegade Knights MUD
Ranthor at earthlink.net