[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[John Buehler]

> Dan Merillat
> Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 10:46 PM

> Of course those resources are used by the peaceful types.  If your
> "make love
> not war" types suddenly find it's harder to eat because they're not helping
> defend, they might get off their asses and do something.  Hell,
> even switching
> sides is an option.  Traitors exist everywhere.

You're assuming that them 'getting off their asses' is what they find
entertaining.  You're being very centric to the style of gameplay that you
enjoy.  This is the fundamental problem with PvP activities.  One player
decides that the world is a certain way and everyone else should adhere to
those rules.  That one player invariably states "that is reality".
Unfortunately, the game is supposed to be entertainment.  Entertainment is
very subjective.  If we put 50,000 players into a world with each having his
or her own subjective view of what entertainment is, we have a tough balancing
act.

The question is: can 50,000 players who enjoy different things actually enjoy
the same game world?

> I fail to see how it's "fun" to be coddled.  Why must online games
> have cheat
> codes?  single player games with cheat codes are extremely boring.
> Why do we
> keep assuming that online games would be any different?

You see peace as being in the same ballpark as cheat codes.  I'm interested in
peaceful activities, yet I never use cheat codes.  Cheat codes are impossibly
boring.  There is no challenge.  You seem to assume that in peace, there are
no challenges.  If you're an engineer, you must understand the challenge of
solving the 'puzzle' of a piece of software or some equivalent problem.  The
challenge of building something with limited resources.  Of reaching some
goal.  The opposition is less active than another human being, of course.
Unless you want to put in bidding wars, trade wars and such.  Those are
peaceful, yet competitive.  And, of course, there's always out-and-out
competitions: archery, wrestling, swimming, whatever.

And there's also consentual PvP.  If a group of players want to get into a
fight, they should be able to go at it.  Just don't assume that everyone else
is into your fun.  There are others around, so don't have your brawl spill
over into the pottery shop, smashing tons of the potter's work without
expecting to have to pay for it all.  A brawl is an expected part of town
life, by the way.  Wars are not.

Or wars ARE.  If we say that wars are a part of town life, the question
remains: will players interested in more peaceful pursuits of building,
crafting and the like be interested in the game?

> And yes, deciding what things in the world impact you is a cheat code.  Just
> because you don't have a "give me infinite levels" cheat dosn't mean that
> "make me immune to the war" isn't.  It's the same vein as "make me immune to
> fire-breathing dragons."  Specific, but cheating nonetheless.

It's only cheating if you assume that war is part of the game.  That's your
assumption.  Other players may not go near the game because of the problem of
war intruding on what they're trying to do in a different part of the game.
Other players are trying to play the subgame of the trades.  All they are
interested in is buying, selling, crafting, and various political maneuvers.
You are interested in the subgame of war.  The two need not overlap.

> Again, if you're not going to do make an attempt at doing PvP,
> don't waste any
> time at all on it.  Whever PvP is an afterthought, it shows.

Again, PvP is something that can only go into a massive game in a certain way.
I'm trying to figure out what that certain way is.  I'm not quite sure whether
you're pursuing the same goal or simply shooting at people who are trying to
come up with a solution.

JB





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