FW: [MUD-Dev] Interesting EQ rant (very long quote)

[Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services]

>On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services wrote:

>>> Matt Mihaly writes:


>> Maybe I'm just not understanding, but aren't there a lot of skill
>> systems out there where the _character_ has to learn something in
>> order to use a skill?  In these cases, it is not possible for a
>> _player_ to simply visit a web-site and suddenly start making the
>> best pizza around.  The _character_ must also develop skills to use
>> this knowledge in many cases.

> By way of example rather than explanation (as explanation seems to
> elude me right now), what if I said to you (assuming we were
> characters in a game, and assuming what I'm telling you is the
> truth:

[snip of example where Matt can complete a quest that Paul can't because
of in-game knowledge]

> "Ooooooh," says Matt. "Maybe someone ELSE has to tell you that the
> magic word is porkmelon. How silly of me to assume that me telling
> you porkmelon would be the same as Gandalf the Recluse Wizard
> telling me that the magic word was porkmelon!"

This is a very good example to work with.  However, it seems clear to
me that the problem here is not that knowledge is modeled in-game, but
that it is modeled poorly.

I think that John B. was advocating a system where characters got a
copy of a knowledge token and were then able to pass that token to
others.  So, I wouldn't have to get the knowledge from Gandalf, I
could get it from Matt, since he had the token.  Of course, the sticky
part then is that there would have to be some sort of coded method for
passing this knowledge which might lead to:

  Matt:  Hey Paul, you can say "porkmelon" to this statue to move it.

vs.

  Matt:  /{formalized_share_secret_command} {target} {secret}

And perhaps the second would be an immersion killer.  However,
depending on the quest, I would think it would be possible to pass a
token in the first instance as well, if you assumed that whenever a
character "heard" Matt say porkmelon, they were passed the knowledge
token.  This might also include observing him actually perform the
quest, which should pass a knowledge token as well.

So, why bother?  To insure that it is Matt the _character_ who is
passing information and not Matt the _player_.

But I concede that there seems little difference between Matt saying
in the game:

  "Hey Paul, you can say "porkmelon" to this statue to move it."

..or Matt saying on a web-site:

  "Hey anyone, you can say "porkmelon" to this statue to move it."

Little difference, but perhaps that little bit is important.  John
B. seems to think so.  I think I tend to agree.

--Phinehas




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