[MUD-Dev] Re: Family, was characters per account

[Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services]

Daniel wrote:
>p.s. I actually like the idea (or rather 'Mark Wells' idea,
>ahem) of character persistence. I'd really like to build
>it into a future game. Heavens, though, not for realism's
>sake (I vaguely recall this being his principal motivation),
>but rather that it increases attachment to the world and
>opens up some interesting gameplay avenues. And yes, you
>would need some sophisticated AI/scripting to make it work, 
>making it a pretty scary implementation proposition.

Ho Daniel!  :-)

The MEdev board is a sad, empty place without you guys.  Even
worse, I fear MEO will not be the same without you...but that's
another discussion.

I doubt very much that the idea of character persistence
originated with Mark, but he sure proved himself a worthy
advocate. :-)

As to interesting gameplay avenues opened, imagine trying to
play out Tolkien's masterpiece without character persistence.
The bearer of the ring would _have_ to be an NPC, since a PC
could wink out of existence at the drop of a hat.  What then
happens to the ring?  Does it just drop to the ground to be
picked up by whomever is nearby?  And what of the fellowship?
Now Aragorn is here...now he is not.  Poor Frodo will never
know whom he can trust to be there to defend him against the
black riders...or black rider...or no riders...where'd the
rider's go?  Hehe.

Character persistence could allow for _much_ longer and more
complex, world-wide quests.  Half the world could be working
together to move item X to location Y while the other half
of the world labored to keep that from happening.  Fun stuff!

--Phinehas

PS:  I was always curious about what you guys meant by
"character psychology" and how you saw it working.  If you
are under an NDA, I understand.  Just ignore this.




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