[MUD-Dev] Interesting dilemma

[Brandon A Downey]

"Peck, Matthew x96724c1" wrote:

> I am currently facing an interesting and complicated dilemma in my mud.  The
> problem is what I call "Illegal Equipment."  This is equipment that is
> unbalanced for normal gameplay in one way or another.  Most of this
> equipment has a legitimate in-game purpose, whether it exists on mobs or as
> artifacts.  However, I have discovered that several immortals will load
> multiple copies of the items and distribute them for various reasons, from
> quest rewards to level bonuses or other reasons.  In addition, they will
> often restring the items to personalize it, yet also making the item
> difficult to detect.
>
> There are several issues that I see here.
>
> 1)  Trusting my immortals.  I have to trust them to conduct day to day
> operations such as building and clan leadership.  They normally do excellent
> work.  How do I restrict them from taking advantage of their positions?
> They basically need to be able to load equipment at will as part of their
> work, so I cannot restrict the commands.  I have posted rules, but they got
> around it by using the quest equipment excuse.  (Somewhat valid, quests with
> rewards are encouraged, but sometimes they go a little overboard).

I would suggest some code to log whenever immortals load objects. This should
log not only the load, but also the identity of the object loaded [most mud
variants have vnums, or numbers for objects]. It would also be helpful if along
with logging this info to a file, there was some sort of 'security' channel that
saw this sort of thing, only accessible by high level imms.

Admittedly, like most measures of this sort, this won't stop every attempt to
subvert the system. For instance, if you have an OLC system, they could easily
alter the stats on a seemingly innocuous object to make it more powerful. Or, if
you have some 'enchant a weapon' variant, high level versions of this spell
could easily drastically improve more mundame weapons. (The spectre of the +10
toothpick of doom haunts us all).

Of course, the real solution is to get your subordinate immortals to understand
your reasoning on this issue. You might want to point out the dangers inherent
in the appearance of immortal favoritism (I'm sure there are some people who
*didn't* get this unbalanced eq that are envious), along with "eq inflation",
from handing out this stuff wholesale. Those are both legitimate concerns, and
if your imms profess any sort of belief in fairness or game balance, this might
be the tact to take in approaching them, as opposed to just posting a list of
rules.

You also might want to require lower level imms to get approval before they run
a quest. Or, just require them to send a note to the other immortals about the
results of quests. That way, you get a handle on how many quests are run.

>
>
> 2)  Restrictions on equipment.  I personally am against restricting
> equipment from players.  It would have to be based on some arbitrary
> standard, and I dislike arbitrary rules based on the fact that it conflicts
> with immersion.  Why shouldn't I be able to pick up the sword?
>

While I tend to agree with this (I remember finding a 'level 5 smurf's cap' once
I couldn't wear because I was level 4 -- they're always seemed something
horribly wrong with that), a solution you might consider is having a player's
skill in a weapon affect their ability to use it effectively.

For example, you might have a sword that does, on average, 30 points of damage.
This could be modified, though, by the player's skill in 'swords'. So, the
actual amount of damage done is: 30* (percentage skill in sword/100). This would
have the effect of preventing unseasoned or low level people, who would
naturally have a lower skill, from using the weapon to do obscene amounts of
damage.



>
> 3)  Restrictions on equipment stats.  This is the road that I am starting to
> travel down.  On our development port I've written code that will
> automatically generate stats for equipment.  While billed as a time saver,
> it also serves to reduce equipment abilities to reasonable levels.  The
> problem is that some equipment should just be better than anything else, and
> I want builders to be able to construct such items.  But then refer back to
> #1.
>

Since you already have the facilities for 'suggested' stats, why not have the
code automatically slap a flag on 'unbalanced' eq, so that it makes the eq easy
to spot. If your problem is imms just loading this equipment, this should make
it easier to spot. (Particularly if you make a command that lets you look for
objects on the basis of a certain flag type.)

If you're having a problem with these sorts of objects in areas, you might want
to consider giving them a 'limit' factor: Every time an object would reset, it
checks how many are in the world, or in how many pfiles it appears. If it's over
a pre-specified limit (fun ways to do this include basing it on the total number
of player levels, or total number of pfiles), it doesn't reset. Of course, if
you think these objects are too easy to get to in areas, that's fairly easy to
monitor.

>
> Another problem that I have is then confiscating these items.  Is there any
> way to do it nicely?  I have one immortal who has taken it upon himself to
> start clearing out these items.  While I approve of the effort, the mud has
> suddenly taken a hostile turn.  Morts seem to have gained a distrust for
> immortals.  How can I heal this rift?  No mud can survive with such conflict
> for long.  The imms will win, only to find no players.

One thing to keep in mind is that *any* negative change in the power level of
the players will upset them. Take away an abusive skill or spell, people
complain. Take away easy to get high powered eq, people complain. The thing to
do is to make sure that you reduce their power level in a fair way.

What this means is that you might want to notify the players that it's being
done beforehand, so they can expect it. Rather than just deleting them, why not
run a check with that stat generator on your equipment. If it's over what you
want, give it a chance of having a 'decay' timer on it, so that after a certain
amount of play time the item crumbles. Or, make it so that the items only last
until the player dies, so that they don't stay in perpetual circulation.

>
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> --Matt Peck
>
> ________________________

I hope I've helped.


Brandon

>



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