[MUD-Dev] The Player Wimping Guidebook

[Brian Vrolyk]

On Thu, 3 Aug 2000, Matthew Mihaly wrote:
>
> On Thu, 3 Aug 2000, Matt Chatterley wrote:
>
> > The only time that I've actually used a game-wide pwipe has been
> > inbetween testing stages where vast and reaching changes
> have occured
> > (generally these cause old pfiles to be incompatible with
> the new code).
>
> A couple people have mentioned this as reasons for wiping the
> player base.
> I don't understand this. We've changed database formats and
> just converted
> the data. LegendMud has done the same. It's not hard to just
> convert data
> from one format to another, so why not just do that?
>

If the changes are so sweeping as to create an entirely new or drastically
altered focus and/or strategy for the game, I think it only fair that
everybody start on equal ground. Not to mention, the changes could very well
not have the desired full effect if half the player base is unaffected and
mostly able to ignore the changes because they've already maxed out their
level (arguments of level systems and level ceilings aside). This is
especially true if the change is meant to have a large social impact rather
than a mechanical one.

Another view that hasn't been mentioned yet is that, for the most part, the
game is much more exciting immediately after a wipe. Granted, should wipes
occur frequently and regularly, this excitement would wear thin quickly.
However, an occasional wipe (every few years?), motivated by high impact
changes to the mud(lib), can revitalize a stagnant mud society.

~Brian Vrolyk
"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it."





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