[MUD-Dev] Death among Friends

[Michael Tresca]

Jon Morrow posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 9:40 PM

> In my pursuit of the meaning of "fun," I stumbled across some
> interesting memories from my lengthy stay on GemStone 3.  I recall
> fighting in massive wars called invasions where hordes of powerful
> creatures besieged our town, forcing everyone to form defensive
> (sometimes attacking) groups.  As I was a low level, I knew the
> chances of earning one of the treasures were slim.  In fact, I was
> little more than a glory-seeking newbie about to be corpsified.
> But strangely enough, I was having fun.  Trying to avoid one of
> the GM-run boss creatures had me pumping pure adrenaline, and
> eventually meeting my ghastly fate with an extra neat death
> message was near euphoria.  But why?

This is called "bringing the monsters to the players."  I am a firm
believer that the routine nature of hack-and-slash brings about
mediocrity, predictability, and eventually, bores players right off
of the game.

Players need to be threatened.  Surprised.  Ambushed.  They need to
have their most precious things potentially violated (even if it's
not a legitimate threat).  This keeps the game exciting.

We have random events on RetroMUD.  We stick by them, even though
many players hate them with a passion.  But yet, when a host of
angels swoops down from the heavens to smite evil, the evil PCs come
together to defend themselves in a way they never bothered to
before.  Newbies (who are not threatened by the invaders) scout them
out, highbies track them down, and the PCs are engaged in a
collective defense of their home.

We also have a thief event.  Bands of thieves "party" together, led
by a master thief.  They pick locks on castles, break down doors,
defuse traps, and steal everything in every chest they can find.
The PCs react like clockwork, systematically hunting down and
tracking the thieves, helping each other out, and otherwise creating
a sense of kinship and community as they defend their homes.

This common enemy is all too often missing from multiplayer games.
When PCs only have to worry about the monster they're killing, the
player community becomes disjointed, insular, and in the most
extreme cases, it's a PK/treasure stealing game where new players
can't even survive.  NOTHING on a game should be 100% protected.  On
RetroMUD, castles decay, characters can slide backwards in
advancement if they screw up enough, and few things are permanent.
This cycle helps keep our economy going as well as filtering out
inactive players.

Some of my most exciting MUD experiences was on Ivory Towers,
defending the city of Chaos from the invaders of the city of Law.
Even though the city of Chaos was usually a PKing mess, those PCs
came together to defend their home.  My other favorite gaming moment
was warding off a series of dragons rampaging through a city.
Again, all the players were united in a common struggle against an
unknown quantity that was killing people left and right.  It was
scary.  It was thrilling.  It was FUN.

This of course has a downside.  In a virtual reality where people
come and go as they please, those "random moments" can happen at the
most inopportune times.  Similarly, those sparks of inspiration and
camaraderie (in other words, those moments when a multiplayer game
actually involves multiple players) happen unexpectedly.  The real
quality player is the one who keeps his cool and marshals his fellow
PCs to provide a formidable defense -- as opposed to the guy who
read on some web site that the minotaur is vulnerable to fire and a
+5 gewgaw is most effective against it.

I don't think it's about social interaction alone.  That potential
exists as soon as more than one player is on the game. It's about
giving players a common reason to cooperate, distinct from the
slavish devotion to killing monsters who wait like sheep to be
"farmed".

Mike "Talien" Tresca
RetroMUD Administrator
http://www.retromud.org/talien/


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