[MUD-Dev] MUD Wimping

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Mon, 31 Jul 2000, Dan Shiovitz wrote:

> So if you don't do the kind of kind of wimping he hates, I don't think
> there's any alternative to doing regular player wipes. The win that way is
> it's scheduled; the players can know it, plan for it, have little goodbye
> parties. 
> 
> You can say "ok, we'll just make a different guarantee with the players,
> we'll tell them everything, including skills, can change without 
> notice". But it won't work, I promise. People can't play under that sort
> of setup, so what they'll do is they'll look at the guarantee and what
> they'll read is still "We promise not to change the way skills work".

What won't work about it? I will explicitly tell any player who asks me
that their skills (which, I might add, they pay hundreds of real dollars
for) can change without notice. Obviously I'm not going to change anything
just to mess them around, but things change, and they deal. They bitch and
moan of course, but they deal. 

 
> Anyone have an example of a player base taking a largish code change well,
> and saying "man, that was a good change even if it hurt in the short
> term"?

No. Players are unable to see the larger picture for the most part. In all
fairness to them though, the equivalent would be if there was a God, and
it decided to change the law of gravity so that it exerts twice the normal
strength tomorrow without any notice. Any reason that said God gave aside
from "If I didn't do this, you'd all be permanently dead tomorrow." would
result in huge complaints, even if it was actually better somehow in the
long run. It's their reality we mess with after all.

--matt
"Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces."
Malachi 2:3




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