[MUD-Dev] The grass is always greener in the other field

[Charles Hughes]

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Raph Koster wrote:
> > J C Lawrence wrote:
>
> > stash.  Its rather sad that UOL's limited world size and population
> > density simply prevent hiding of objects in obscure locations.
>
> No, it isn't. It's a blessing, in that it means we can tackle the problem
> with a localized solution targeted at house storage. Because the real
> problem is database bloat. It's what has always brought full world-state
> muds to their knees, and UO is no exception, suffering from long backup
> times, huge backup sizes, and lower responsiveness because of gigabytes
> worth of useless crap stored away in houses. Don't underestimate just how
> much people want to keep around that serves no valid game purpose. Being
> able to stash it somewhere where it won't be found isn't going to help you
> the admin any. :)

When I'm playing (not UO, but other muds) I really like the exploring
aspect.  Finding rare items (a blue rose, a spinning top, etc) is a lot of
fun - nobody is really hunting for the item, it has no in-game purpose,
and it's only there to add flavor.  After I get a rare item, I tend to keep
it until I'm forced to give it up or I give it away as a present.  Sure,
it's
worthless crap, but it allows some roleplaying.

So, as one of those people who likes to hoard, may I offer an alternative?
If an item serves no valid game purpose, then making it easily available
but with a very short decay if not in a player's direct possession, is a
better way of handling the item.  IMO, of course.

There is, of course, another way - the group object.  This has probably
been discussed to death here.  Just an object that claims it is "a dozen
eggs",
"a pile of coins", "about a hundred longswords".  Database storage
for multiple identical items is reduced to simply storage for one item
with a counter. Of course, the downside is that you have to be able
to handle such objects.





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