[MUD-Dev] Advancement considered harmful (long)

[Miroslav Silovic]

Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services <Paul.Schwanz at east.sun.com> writes:


> Basically, there are seven levels, with the king at level seven and
> the peon at level one.  Now, typically with such heirarchies, we
> tend to think that this game will be great if you're a king and it
> will suck if you're a peon...but does this HAVE to be so?  What if
> the king really wasn't all that different from the peon?  What if
> "levels" were totally decoupled from hit-points, skill, and the
> various other powers typically associated with them.  What if
> "level" only indicated responsibility and authority, but not
> personal power?  What if the peon could take the king in a fair
> fight?  What if the peon had ALL the power and abilities (and
> perhaps is more skilled at many of them) of the king, except one:
> THE ABILITY TO PROMOTE.

Furthermore, on an actual -roleplaying- game, the ammount of fun you
have in the game does not depend on the ammount of power, either
combat or social.

I'd know, I played both youths and heroes, on the same MUSH, even.

BTW, a way to make your MU* roleplaying, rather than combat, is to
simply allow anybody to run any character they want. No advancement,
just request the char, and *poof*, there you have it (possibly require
some application/approval process, but filter for character -detail-,
not power). To ballance it out, forbid characters to affect each other
at all without mutual consent. This is the norm with many MUSHes, and
it in fact works.

It also eliminates twinks on very short order - there's no way to
hassle other players when things simply can *be forbid from
happening*.

--
How to eff the ineffable?



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