[MUD-Dev] Buying benefits

[Corey Crawford]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Mihaly" <the_logos at achaea.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 6:32 PM
Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Buying benefits [was Re: business models]

> On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, Matt Chatterley wrote:

>> I first encountered Lockers many years ago on one of my first
>> Muds, which was an old strain of LPMud. Back then, you could hire
>> one for X gold per day (enough gold to be out of reach for a
>> couple of levels, but then easily affordable). They let you store
>> your kit between logins, but weren't reboot-safe. Since reboots
>> were weekly or thereabouts, you could spend a bit of time at the
>> start of the week building up your kit, and not have to requip
>> for several logins, unless you broke things or wanted to upgrade.

> When I first asked, this is what I was really referring to. Why
> does equipment disappear on reboot? I don't understand that as a
> design decision.

If equipment plays a much smaller role in the game's mechanics, this
is very feasible. The best example I can think of is Genocide,
Ground Zero, or any other PvP games that have specific "wars" with
starting and stopping points.  If skill (read: player skill as well
as character skill) have a huge amount to do with how well you play
the game, and equipment is just something you wear and is easily
gotten, it's not such a big deal to lose that shirt, pants, and
sword.

Not that I would do that in *my* game, but just like PermaDeath,
with the right environment it can work.

On a similar note, some of the MUDs I hated most were the ones that
forced you to 'rent' in order to save your equipment and items
before logging out.  Sure it was more realistic and stuff, but man,
what a hassle!

Course none of this is in the topic of "buying benefits". So along
*that* thread, if Origin had decided that player houses would cost
an additional $5/month per house, how many players would do so? Do
you think the amount of houses would decrease by any measurable
amount? (I know houses are hugely popular on UO).

What if Verant offered buyable stat increases?

What if AC offered customized armor sets?

Honestly, I think one of these days one of the "big guys" is going
to do this, and once players get use to the idea of paying extra for
extra features, everyone will be doing it. I think it's all a matter
of acceptance; once players are use to it, it won't be a big
deal. I'm use to paying the high prices for the gas I put in the car
now, though I sure b*tched when it first went up ;)

Thoughts on that?

---
Corey Crawford | myrddin at seventh.net | www.seventh.net


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