[MUD-Dev] Remote client connection

[Lee Sheldon]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> John Buehler
> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2000 6:53 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Remote client connection

> But I'm becoming a believer in persistent characters.

I am too.  Every time I'm penalized in EQ because I can only spend a couple
of hours a night playing, I wish that there were some equalizer.  I'm pretty
much reconciled to the fact that I probably will never acquire significant
items, or visit areas for which a long, organized raid is required.  Since
that's basically all there is to the game at high levels (I'm 49 now), and I
don't expect to see any increased awareness on Verant's part in how the
storytelling is failing to reach the players, there's not much left.  Like a
surprisingly significant number of other high-level players I've run into
lately, my involvement in EQ is winding down.  The snowball factor is
involved here.  The less I play, the more I'm penalized, the less I want to
play.

> I believe that
> something that would be valuable for persistent characters would be to
> receive updates about the character's experiences via email.

My concern is that the mechanism for reporting (whether it's via cel phones
or email) is totally removed from the game world.  It breaks the fourth wall
in such a significant way that suspension of disbelief in the storytelling
is pretty much impossible.  I don't want to be reminded that I'm on the
internet.  I want to be reminded I'm in another world.

>Significant events would be defined by the player, with a
> reasonable default or set of defaults being supplied by the game.

Asheron's Call reminds players of significant events obstensibly
player-driven, but in practice not.  I became discouraged with this game
even faster than EQ.  With significant story events outlined on a web page,
and no real connection for lower level players to them in the game world, I
lost interest.  I'm told they've tried to address at least the second issue.
I wish I could get up enough enthusiasm to go back and see.

> Persistent characters could also be managed using a
> lightweight client.
> Imagine a text MUD interface for even a graphical game.  All command
> interactions and feedback.  The information flowing back and forth
> between the client the server can be rendered in a variety of ways,
> with an 'immersive' graphical client not necessarily being the best
> for what a given player is trying to accomplish.

I would rather see an in-game mechanism for bringing people up to date on
what their character and the world have been up to in their absence.  In The
Gryphon Tapestry we had a form of in-game, in-period email, Urchin
Messengers, through whom players could message other players not currently
online.  They also served to tell you when ongoing (while you were offline)
research or manufacturing you'd undertaken was complete.  Finally, we had
Town Criers, Minstrels, tavern message boards, and a rich flow of rumors and
gossip to keep players up to date.

The trick is to keep this unobtrusive enough so players learn only what they
want to at the time, succinct enough that they don't spend their entire
online time getting caught up with past events, and accessible enough so
they can have the equivalent of listening to Armed Services Radio in the
foxhole while waiting for the next battle.

Lee




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