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

[Kevin Littlejohn]

>>> Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services wrote
> 
> 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.

I read this and wasn't sure what character persistance was...

> 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.

I read this and understood ;)

There's an answer of sorts to the issue of complexity in scripting.  That's
to provide a really solid scripting engine in-game, and allow players to
code what their character will do while they're not logged in.  This is the
path we're taking - I'm envisaging a trade in "really good AI scripts"
somewhere down the line.

In some ways this increases the problems with advancement by practice, etc
- really encourages scripting killing the bunnies to gain xp, that sort of
thing - but in other ways, it might actually decrease it - _everyone_ will
be scripted while they're logged out, so it kinda evens the playing field.
Anyone got any theories on what wins out?

KevinL



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