[MUD-Dev] Re: Permadeath

[Tess Snider]

First, let me introduce myself really quickly, since I haven't posted
here before:

I'm Tess Snider, formerly the wizard "Adriana" on AmberMUSH.  I'm
currently active in the WorldForge Project, as a server programmer and
all-around rabble-rouser.

On Fri, 08 Dec 2000, Nigel Chapman wrote:
> On a purely RPG MOO, Permadeath is rather meaningless because of the
> lack of long-term investment in a character.

I can speak only from the consensual-roleplaying MUSH perspective, not
having spent much time in MOO-land, but I have to strenuously disagree
with this assertion.  There are more ways to build an investment in a
character than mindlessly killing monsters for hours on end.

In a pure roleplaying game, a character begins as a blank slate, but
can grow in many ways, over time.  He may gain new allies and enemies.
He may fall in love, and have children.  He may claw his way up
through the political or business hierarchy of his land.  He may
establish new institutions, such as schools, businesses, or even
kingdoms.  He may have other characters depending on him.  He may
build a history to rival that of any character in a novel.

I have seen MUSHers talk about dead characters over half a decade
after those characters died, laughing, smiling, and always a little
rueful.  I have seen players grieve over dead characters, entirely too
intensely, and for entirely too long.  I have seen players go to any
length to try to find a plot device to rescue imperiled characters,
because they simply could not bear the sadness of losing them.

However, many of these same players would find it almost impossible to
fathom a world without permanent death.  It's considered to be a very
important part of the realism of the game.

On Fri, 08 Dec 2000, Nigel Chapman wrote:

>> Eric wrote:
>>> There are clearly ways of making perm death workable and palatable.

> Not, I think, within the DIKU-Deriv family of MUDs, nor within the
> pure RPG MOO families, that is to say, not at the extremes of
> M*+ing.

It is within the realm of consensual roleplay that permadeath is the
least debated.  Of all the things that players complained about in my
years as a wizard, permadeath was never one of them.  Given the things
that I have observed, I would have to argue that permadeath is both
workable and palatable at the pure roleplaying end of the spectrum.

Tess

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev