[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[Daniel A. Koepke]

I don't think it's particularly important to reward grouping at pubs
in any manner, since that doesn't really encourage players to
socialize there.  They'll probably socialize at the most convenient
place for them, go to the pub, and team up to receive whatever
benefit doing so offers.  Or continue to ignore it if they don't
care too much about the benefits.

Naturally, you alleviate some of these concerns by making pubs more
convenient places to meet up.  Still, people tend to form exclusive
groups; once they form "better" communication lines with the players
behind particular characters, they'll probably move it outside the
pub.  The problem I see with many of the proposals thus far is that
they're mostly "meta-game."  It's as if we all sat down and asked
ourselves, "How do we get a player to go to a pub?" and forgot to
ask the question, "Why should the character want to go to a pub?"  I
don't think players are going to buy into, "You get a reward for
doing it," or, "It's the most convenient thing to do."  I think
they'll probably go, even if it's not entirely the most convenient
place to go, if they see it as an opportunity for their character to
gain something tangible (whether it be money, friends, etc.).

Thus far, the pubs serve one purpose: socialization.  Maybe, too,
getting drunk, which the less goal-oriented members of your service
might appreciate.  Someone else suggested we start quests from the
pub.  That's not a bad idea.  At least, it leads to what I think the
ultimate solution is: we can give the characters reasons to go to
pubs.  The players will take their characters there because it's to
the benefit of the character and it's fun.  Add gambling,
prize-fighting (where players can bet on the fights or even
participate against other players or mobiles), assassins and people
looking to hire them sitting in the shadowy recesses of the pub, let
people see -- say -- their least favorite cityguard a bit drunk and
heading out into the street, if you have an equivalent to bards (who
may or may not have purpose in adventure groups) let them get paid
to play the bar and tell stories, have trinket vendors and
booty-laden thieves hang out there so you can buy stuff there, have
mobiles offering hints on quests or telling stories of monsters and
treasure, etc.

Don't make the pubs too safe, but make them safe enough.  The pubs
should be the one place uniting the GoP'ers, the RP'ers, the seamy
underbelly of your world's society, and the more morally correct.
Because outside the pub these are usually distinct groups that don't
do much talking (in fact, they're probably enemies).  Inside the
pubs, the setting is a bit safer, there's a lot of things to do, and
you can sit down at a card table with an assassin that, under other
circumstances, might be firing a crossbow bolt at you from the roof
of a nearby building.


-dak

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