[MUD-Dev] Lava and RPGs

[Brian Hook]

At 04:36 PM 3/9/01 +0000, Dan wrote:

> I was going to agree with you but... something dawned on me. How is
> not walking off a platform any different, to not accidently running
> too close to a monster that will hand you back your inards?

Taken to extremes, there isn't any difference.  With a pure RPG then
no amount of motor control should determine the outcome of an event --
the primary determining factors should be strategy and your
character's stats, items, and other "non-twitchy" parameters.

However, some compromise is required if you want to provide any amount
of real-time control and feedback.  I think EQ errs rather strongly on
the side of requiring relatively competent motor control.

Almost every CRPG (especially console ones) factor out player reflex
as much as possible.  Be it Skies of Arcadia, PSO, FFVII, Baldur's
Gate, or what have you, physical puzzles are effectively removed from
the game because they realize (hopefully) that an RPG should not be
testing the _player's_ motor skills.

And to answer your statement, I would still stay the amount of motor
control necessary to navigate Kelethin is significantly beyond that
required to run away from an undesirable encounter.

> It all seems a bit hazy to me though - what about traps? If you have
> better control skills, and know where they are, you can avoid them
> without your chars save vs traps being tested etc.

This would be an egregious design flaw.  If _player_ knowledge and
_player_ skill circumvent the game's _character_ mechanics (i.e. there
is now a disincentive to pursuing a higher Save vs. Traps skill), then
I would argue that this is a poor design.

This would be analogous to allowing a character to both physically
dodge (using reflexes, awareness and low-ping) a missile attack and
successfully roll a defense vs. a missile attack.  For obvious reasons
this would be very, very broken since circle strafing a moss snake
would now actually mean something =)

Brian Hook

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