[MUD-Dev] "Mud-school", character-gen and role-playing

[Tim Vernum]

What does these three have in common?

Well, a few discussions here prompted me to think about some
 matters, and this is what I came up with.

I'm thinking about a situation in which the character generation
 process, is a simulation, similar to the game. In my case I'm
 thinking in terms of text-games, but I don't see why it can't
 apply to graphical games.

Imagine that when a user decides to create a character (either
 a new user logs on, or an existing user creates a 2ndry char
 [if you mud allows it]). They start off nameless, sexless,
 raceless and statless.

You then allow them to move through a simulation, where various
 situations are put before them. How they react to these
 situations defines who their character is. At the end of the
 simulation, all the initial details of their character are
 formed, based upon the choices they made in those situations.

At its simplest you can have.
"You are in a small dark room. A single light hangs from the
 ceiling. The light makes visible a small stone table against
 the eastern wall. On the table is an apple, a dagger and a
 book. You can see no means of exit"

Now, based on whether the player takes the apple, the dagger
 or the book, you know something about how their character
 behaves. If you're doing this simply, then you might
 categorise them into explorer/fighter/magic-user based on
 that.

But there's a lot more you can measure.
Do they look at the items before picking them up?
Do they try and take all the items at once?
If a door opens after they take the book, do they exit
 immediately or stay and take the dagger too?

The idea is that you give the player an intro to the mud.
You tell them that they should make their choices in line
 with the style of character they wish to play, and then
 you analyse this to determine the game defined features
 of the player.
This would appear to work particularly well in games where
 there is little/no stat changes after creation.

Has anyone done anything like that?

--
	[ Tim Vernum ] ~ ~ ~ [ tpv at acay.com.au ]
"4 out of 5 people alive today have never made a telephone call.
More have been bombed from the air than have flown... modernity as
a cultural outlook remains a rarity, leaving post-modernism as a
plaything for a Concorde of scholars...", Humphrey McQueen



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