[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu 
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> John Buehler
> Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 3:18 PM
> To: MUD-Dev
> Subject: FW: [MUD-Dev] UO rants 
> 
> 
> Resend.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Buehler [mailto:johnbue at email.msn.com]
> > Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 12:28 PM
> > To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> > Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] UO rants 
> > 
> > 
> > > Koster, Raph
> > > Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 10:58 AM
> > 
> > > > In a persistent game, the character itself advances its own 
> > > > skills.
> > > 
> > > This is a huge unexamined assumption regarding muds and 
> other persistent
> > > games. WHY assume that muds are or have to be character-based? 
> > > 
> > > Could not a persistent game be made with no character advancement?
> > 
> > My personal goal is to pursue the structure of a game world that 
> > closely mimics reality, while still retaining an overarching goal 
> > of providing entertainment to the players.  I certainly haven't 
> > spent very much time examining the entertainment impact of leaving 
> > out character advancement.  Because it's not a way of mimicking 
> > reality, I haven't pursued it.

You shifted the ground of the discussion in order to duck the tough
question. :) Unintentionally, probably.

Reality doesn't involve character advancement. It involves *personal*
advancement. You can have that perfectly well in a mud. Just don't do
anything. It'll leak through into the virtual environment. It'll arguably be
a better advancement model for mimicking reality than any you code in. ;)

Let me once again state the obvious: why does a gaming mud have to involve
character advancement?

Consider that your average gaming mud is descended from D&D. In D&D you saw
damn little character advancement in the course of a single adventure. Most
adventures were tailored for a very narrow range of power and achievement.
Muds threw away that nice balance for the sake of having a single campaign
where levels 1 through 50 coexisted simultaneously--something no DM *I* ever
saw really attempted.

Maybe part of the problem with muds is that they're not designed solely for
levels 8-12 like D&D modules are.

Maybe part of the problem is that we value advancement, and specific bits of
baggage attached to the classic notion of advancement, far too much.

Of course, this is all a silly rhetorical question. There's a ton of muds
out there already which don't have character advancement. :)

-Raph



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