[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

-----Original Message-----
From: Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl>
To: 'mud-dev at kanga.nu' <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 1999 12:59 PM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.


>I think this makes excellent sense. Maybe we should name it Dr. Cat's
>Law of Perpetually Interesting Games.  (or something a bit less grand
>if you like :)


Dr. Cat's P.I.G. Law!

I LIKE IT!

>You could  of course  put the ladder on quicksand.  A special type of
>quicksand that sinks faster the higher you climb the ladder.


This is easier to do than you think: REMOVE ALL ABSOLUTES. All comparison is
*relative*. The human mind does not deal well with absolutes. Remember how
long a week was when you were a kid? Notice how short a week is now? If
you're 30 years old, a week is about 1/1500 of your life. When you were
eight, a week was 1/400 of your life. A week was literally almost four times
as long to your perception, because the human psychology usually only
recognises reality *relative* to the self. If you had level 20 on a game
where everyone else was level 50, you wouldn't feel very good. If you had
level 20 on a game where everyone else was level 4, you'd be proud as hell.
It is not the number that matters, it is the GAP. The actual number you
assign to level or skill is basically meaningless. It is how that number
compares to the rest of the players that has impact.

| Caliban Tiresias Darklock            caliban at darklock.com
| Darklock Communications          http://www.darklock.com/
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