[MUD-Dev] Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea

[Chris Lloyd]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Travis Casey
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 16:40
> To: Chris Lloyd
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea

> However, there's no reason why this *has* to be the case.  One could
> adopt the Arduin rule -- that if a thief tries to pick a lock, and
> doesn't succeed, that thief *cannot* pick that lock no matter how
> many times he/she tries, unless and until the thief gets a better
> chance to pick the lock.

> (Conversely, in Arduin, if a thief picks a lock successfully, that
> thief will *always* pick that lock successfully, unless and until
> the thief tries it while having a lower chance to pick the lock.)

> This does require a good deal of storage to keep track of which
> locks the thief has tried, what the result was, and what the thief's
> skill was at the time, but it does solve the problem of
> lockpick-spamming.  > That's a lot of storage ;)

> > Another alternative is to use a difficulty system with automatic >
failures: if your effective lockpick skill is low enough compared to >
the difficulty of the lock, you simply can't pick it.  Spamming with a
> 0% chance of success isn't going to get you anywhere.

Right. You could have 3 lockpicking skills, dealing with tumblers,
yale locks and safes, say.

>> Here, it is common knowledge that the items can be stolen, and the
>> owner is taking a risk by having them stored in this way. He
>> accepts that his place might get burgled. In order to stop the
>> lockpick-spamming, instead use some sort of finite resource to do
>> the job.

My point was that if you had 500 gold coins worth of stuff, and you
put it in a lock that would take anyone but the highest-grade thief
1000 gold coins to crack, you would be happy. Otherwise players just
wouldn't use such a storage system if there was any chance that their
stuff could be stolen.  personally, if I had a set amount of 'safe'
storage, and the rest was 'stealable', I would never, ever store more
than the lower limit.

But if I had a storage area that was always 'stealable', I would
simply put the biggest lock on it in the realm and try not to put
anything of real value in.

> Something else would be to have different tools for picking
> different kinds of locks... the tools for harder lock types would be
> more expensive.  A simple skeleton key might suffice for cheap
> locks, harder locks might require picks, a combination lock might
> require a stethoscope to help hear the clicks, etc.

> Here's something else that's often missing from the "lockpick
> problem" on muds, though -- the question of time.  In the real
> world, picking a lock takes time -- sometimes a lot of time.  On a
> mud, making an attempt at picking a lock generally takes no more
> time than it takes to type the command and hit return, or to click
> the mouse.  Make it take some time, and it becomes much less
> practical for someone to try to spam lockpicking.

There will always be players who have more time on their hands than
others, and if they can find a lock to pick where the danger of being
detected is low, they will spend that hour and 17 minutes trying to
get in... By making the lockpicking 'cost' (in game money), it makes
thieves think about whether the job is worth doing. I do like the idea
of having % chances each time.  Hm... I'll have a think about that.

>> Thieves can be enemies from cities or towns. Players get peeved if
>> you lock them up, so large fines will have to do. And no one likes
>> a thief - Hopefully players won't trust him any more.

> Also, if a thief has been caught before, others might refuse to hire
> him/her for jobs -- who wants to hire a thief who isn't even good at
> it?

> For extra fun, have cops who pressure thieves to "talk" about who
> sold them the lockpicks, who they're working for, etc.

You know, I've never met a roleplayer who wanted to be a 'corrupt'
official in a game. Its interesting also that not many thieves want to
tell the in-role policemen who they are working for.

C.

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev