[MUD-Dev] Transportation (was: UO rants)

[Brad Wyble]

Patrick writes:
> 
[snip post by Chris lloyd concerning travel delays in MUDS]

> 
> 	Why are we limiting travel again?

To prevent overeasy escape by PVP's, thereby allowing a geographic
solution to the PVP dilemna.  

But perhaps the price is too great for players in MUD's, accustomed to
zooming around at will. 
 
For 3d games though, players are used to paying the time price to get from
A to B, but even then there are limits to what they are willing to do.
Traveling for 2 hours to get from faydwer to Qeynos for the 8th time in
order  to buy a new spell is a bit taxing.  I will admit though, that
boring or not, finally cresting the last zone boundary and arriving in
Qeynos is a great feeling that would be absent if there were a "journey to
Qeynost" button.


But eliminating long and repetitive journeys is usually why teleportation
exists, and I think adding a 3-5
minute time delay to such spells solves their use as a means of escape,
without compromising their intent (That intent being to reduce enormous
travel times across very familiar terrain).  A similar delay could be
added to free-standing gates as well. (the delay takes effect before you
disappear, so you would be vulnerable to attack while waiting)

> 
> 	In my experience, if you make it too hard to travel, either in
> time or effort, people won't.  If you make it required that they travel,
> inorder to advance, or simply to advance more quickly, people will revolt.
> On the other hand, if you make it exciting or unique, making travel part
> of the game instead of something you have to do inorder to play, people
> enjoy it all the more.  

This isn't quite true in EQ.  People pay the travel time price until they 
have friends who can teleport them. They bitch, they complain, but they
suffer it just the same, all 300K of them.

Unfortunately, making travel "part of the game" is much easier said than
done.  Keeping the same stretch of land exciting over repeated traversals
seems an impossible task.

> 
> 	Maybe the problem is; "I have travel in my game, but it adds
> nothing to the play. I need to justify the requirement that one must
> travel." 
> 

No, there is a definite problem (PVP) and adding travel helps to solve it 
as far as "safe areas" are concerned.


			-Brad Wyble



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