[MUD-Dev] Realistic travel times/virtual terrain

[William McCarroll]

On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, Zak Jarvis wrote:

> 
> > From: Richard Tew [richard.tew at wiredgroup.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 6:39 PM
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > My question is, has anyone actually implemented a mud where the
> > travel times are proportionate?  Where the distance travelled
> > in the mud world is directly proportional to the time it takes
> > the player.  What do your players think?  Do they like or dislike it?
> 

<snip>

> I don't think realistic round times are at all unfeasible. My suggestions
> are:
> 
> Use LOTS of smaller rooms, even with the same description. It gives more
> sense of interaction.

This is the method that we have implemented in our game.  Basically using
millions of "terrain" rooms the players must travel through to get from
one geographic location to another.  With a stamina system, speedwalking
becomes difficult.  Player response to this is mixed. Some like it,
others do not.  

I believe it is a more rewarding system to those players who tend to be
explorers.  Finding their way from one location to another is exciting,
and having vast terrain maps gives them a playfield to do this with.

Instead of room descriptions, however, we use an ascii representation of
the surrounding terrain.  I think this gives the player a better feeling
of progress.  A neverending stream of "You are on a flat plain." would get
pretty boring.

After a player becomes more experienced with the game, however, spending
30 real life minutes to get from one place to another becomes
tedium.  At these levels it becomes important to give them time
savers: Faster mounts, mass transport, teleportation spells, worldgates,
etc..

This allows the player to balance for himself the enjoyment he gets out of
the game.  Right about the time it becomes tedious to move from one area
to the next, he gains the funds, or experience to use one of the
time-saving devices.

I like to relate travel time to commercials.. the first few times they may
be interesting to watch, but after a while you just end up changing the
channel.

Long travel times with no shortcuts do have their place however.  I think
it is a very effective device to isolate and seperate areas.  If you have
3 continents in your game world, each with it's own culture, and you want
to keep them virtually seperate, then a long travel time would act as a
barrier. This may serve the purpose of uniting the people of one
continent against the people of another.  This seperation can sometimes
enhance the roleplaying on the mud.

Just like everything in a mud there is a balance that must be
maintained.  I definately think that sitting in a room for 30 seconds,
waiting for my character to traverse it would just be frustrating. everyone 
hates lag enough, might be bad to emulate it in code :) 

-HeZ

hezkezl at materiamagica.com




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