[MUD-Dev] Maintaining fiction.

[Freeman]

> From: Peter Tyson [mailto:ptyson at datamonitor.com]

> If my character dies, I want to see their son, daughter,
> spawnling, come through and take on the mantle of their parent. I
> want some reward for my many hours of past work.

I'd like to see the character's name and item appear later in the
form of "legendary" items, which are either magical or could be
enchanted (depending on crafting skill support).  For example, if
your character has killed a lot of dragons before croaking, then
maybe his sword turns up sometime later as (potentially) "Peter
Tyson's Dragonslaying Sword".

That assumes a fantasy adventure type game, though somewhat similar
things might could be added to different genres.

But I agree that your "advancement" should not vanish utterly when
your character dies, because that would suck.  It's why I don't like
advancement being tied to characters and would rather it be tied to
something else (plus which I just dislike The Character-Building
game).

> Introduce permadeath on UO tomorrow and watch the servers drain
> and accounts close.

Of course, that would be a Bad Idea.  But no one suggested that
permadeath should simply be slapped into an existing game which
isn't designed for permadeath.

> Permadeath also means any fame your character gets is almost
> certainly lost when you die.

Dying could be what makes you famous.  Legendary, even.  :)

> As a player you have to find all your in-game friends again (or
> use ICQ constantly. Hmm, fiction breaker?).

Player-to-player communication doesn't need to be character-centric,
either.

> Few are hard-core enough to want to start completely from scratch
> over and over.

I agree completely.

> The are so many other fiction breakers already (including players
> themselves) why try and lock them off to the detriment of players?

I wouldn't introduce it as a matter of maintaining fiction, nor
would it be to the detriment of the players.  The purpose would be
to make the game better - and not for the sake of the game, but for
the sake of the people playing it.

> If you offer a system of rewarding and challenging players, of
> offering players new opportunities upon the death of one character
> (leading to another?) then the system might work, but all other
> options seem punitive and.. well.. dull :)

Haven't really seen any of those other options, except in strawman
arguments against permadeath.

People hear "permanent death", imagine it in their game of choice,
and decide that it's a terrible, stupid idea.  Which it would be, if
it were just plooped into their game of choice.

But I haven't ever heard any serious proponent of permadeath suggest
any such thing.
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