[MUD-Dev] PK vs. PvP (was: UO rants)

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Ananda Dawnsinger wrote:

> > From: "Tess Lowe" <tess at havensong.com>
> > Reply-To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> > Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 01:05:51 +0100
> > To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
> > Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] UO rants
> > 
> 
> I think essentially PvP -- as a shorthand for contextual PK -- is
> fundamentally different from the Quakealike sport you might find on a place
> like AC's Darktide server.  PvP is less about "wins" or "kills" than about
> cementing your role and position in the gameworld.  As such, it owes at
> least as much to the Socializer and Explorer as to the Killer.

Oh, there's no question about it. PvP is much more conducive to
non-combatant characers than hack n' slash games. Most of my players
played the graphical games and just laughed, becuase they felt like there
was no depth whatsoever. What can you do? You can go out and kill things.
That's it. Where is there room for some depth of experience? You don't get
depth of experience from going out and whacking the same Golden Dragon
that 100 others have whacked in the past (granted, we definitely do have
NPC whacking in Achaea, but it's basically a form of work. You want your
xp or your gold? Fine, you ahve to do something distasteful for it.
Getting your gold or xp or whatever from an NPC allow syou to participate
in the _real_ game which is infinitely more interesting than just bashing
NPCs).

 
> Though honestly, more PvP takes place on Darktide than you might think...

I haven't played Darktide, but I believe it. PvP brings out the best in
players. It forces them to dig deep, because they aren't competing against
some half-assed AI, but against other people who are as smart or smarter
than they are.

 
> The RP/GoP game with the strongest PvP bent I know of is Inferno.  There are
> three "realms" (Dark, Light, Twilight) and conflict among all three.  I
> gather it's considered very bad form for interaction between a Dark PC and a
> Light PC to not end in violence.  And though I haven't tried it out
> personally, it has a very good reputation as a roleplaying environment in
> the pay-text-MUD (aka Gemstone) community.

Well, I will say that Inferno, while having a good reputation, also
doesn't have and doesn't aspire to have too many players (that's what the
guys that own it told me at least). It's easy to have good rp if you are
very selective in your player base (Look at the MUSHes that make people
fill out applications for a character. Their RP puts nearly everything
else to shame.)

--matt
"He that is wounded in the testicles, or have his penis cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the Lord." Deuteronomy 23:1




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