[MUD-Dev] The Relationship between pkers and monster AI?

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 12:05 PM 10/14/1999 -0500, I personally witnessed Greg Miller jumping up
to say:
>Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
>> 
>> Nothing's wrong with that. However, most MUDs *pretend* to support
>> roleplaying, and *ostensibly* provide a "world" in which your "character"
>> can "adventure" -- when they're really just scavenger hunts. If you don't
>> support roleplaying, don't pretend to. If you claim to have a world and
>> characters and adventures, then people should be expected to play their
>> characters as part of this world while they participate in these
>> adventures. If this is not acceptable behavior, then don't *pretend* it is.
>
>Just for clarification... are you saying that any game that isn't
>completely abstract is promising roleplaying?

You have a distressing habit of taking *everything* to extremes. 

Most roleplaying games begin with a specific process. This process involves
generating statistics, selecting your persona's type (race and/or
profession), naming your persona, and acquiring initial equipment. After
this process, you are placed in some location and -- turned loose. Some
direction may be provided, but no goal is expressly dictated. 

When you duplicate this process, you have for all intents and purposes
written a rather detailed contract with your players that you will provide
a roleplaying game. When you don't, you're breaking that contract. It is
not reasonable to ask your players to detail and personify their
characters, and then play them like faceless pieces on a game board. The
process of character generation is one of creation. You are asking players
to sculpt a statue and then stick it in a box where no one can see it. This
is not just pointless, it is CRUEL -- because those who like their
characters faceless still have to sculpt, and those who like to sculpt
don't get to show off their creations. Nobody is happy. The non-roleplayer
will probably get over the one-time process of sculpting his character, but
the roleplayer is expected to continually keep his work a secret. 

If characters are intended to be faceless (as, in my own game, they more or
less are), then don't give them faces. Make all of them the same. Make the
process of acquiring one painless and quick. Then the non-roleplayer gets
into the game faster, and the roleplayer is pretty well aware that "soft"
character development won't mean squat on this game. 

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