[MUD-Dev] Wilderness (AO)

[Peter Tyson]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad [mailto:olag at ifi.uio.no]

> I find AOs world big enough. It will take you hours upon hours at
> full speed seeing it all...  The trouble is: the fun that provides
> is limited. Making it bigger will not improve it at all!  Putting
> more play related content in the same space would.  

Not sure how many others have had a look around AO yet, but I think
it does a great job with the terrain. Firstly, it's variable,
interesting and large and it has.. impact. You feel like you are in
a huge forest, vast empty hot desert, mountains or urban
wilderness. The thing which really highlights this is, I believe the
weather. You can watch a storm front come in, the rain start, cloud
heads boil and roll, and then pass letting in shinning
sunlight.. It's truly spectacular. I noticed at one point in
Meetmedere zone that at 4pm in game time the clouds rolled in,
everything got dark (as you'd expect) and in the twighlight a huge
sandstorm fired up with lightning and wind, the works! PvP slowed as
this force of nature swept the area and people waited for it to pass
and visibility to return. You feel like you are really playing on a
planet in the throes of being terraformed.

To me the huge landscape and weather are real bonuses to the game
and I agree they have the size about right. No one can really run
between cities without taking 30-40 minuts to do so but the wompa
instant transport network is a great addition. Also, there is a lot
of stuff in that wilderness, from mob villages to dungeons to
outposts and so on. But FunCom haven't over-populated the wilderness
with stuff. You don't feel like you're traveling around some
amusement park. It's a nice balance in my view. Also, you're not
really forced to travel a long distance.. I think the result if a
feeling of greater location-based community. I know folks I have
adventured with at 10th level are still around Tir some 20 levels
later. I feel comfortable there, the rest of the world is a bit
scary. I like that ;)

Just for the handling of wilderness and weather AO is worth a look
in my view. There's a lot game designers could learn there.

O, almost forgot the best part.. Climb to a high peak, watch the sun
come up and voila, the music changes and rises to a soaring
symphony, brilliant!

enough of my ramble

Peter
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