[MUD-Dev] I Want to Forge Swords. [Another letter to game

[Marian Griffith]

On Tue 08 May, Madrona Tree wrote:
>> From: "Batir" <batir at frontiernet.net> 

>> Most games have many paths for those who want to fight, but only a
>> couple for those who want to build.  In UO you have 5 combat skills
>> that deal direct damage, and a host of supporting skills that aid
>> those main skills.  Then, you have the single skill of
>> blacksmithing, and the single skill of carpentry, and the single
>> skill of fletching, and so on.  No skills to aid these skills?  No
>> choices as far as career progression, other then following the
>> linear path. That is what he and I complain about.

> So what happens (and what did happen) was that I made a Tailor
> Character On The Same Server.  She wasn't really a mule, per se, but
> she was an extension of the Main character that I wouldn't have had
> if I didn't have to in order to do what I wanted to do.

> Having a craft skill shouldn't cripple me to the point that it
> separates me from a good majority of the rest of the world (and my
> friends who go there).

What this suggests to me is that you do not WANT to be a trader, or a
tailor, or a blacksmith. You want to be an adventurer but find that a
couple of those "other" skills are useful. This is find in and of it-
self, but that was not the point of the initial argument.

That said, if you want to offer other entertainment besides killing
creatures, you have to offer a similar level of detail and depth of
experience.

So, yes, it is perfectly acceptable to offer the ability to speciali-
se as a tailor to the same degree that others specialise as a fighter
Perhaps fewer people will choose to follow such a path, but given a
couple of thousand players there will be enough of them to provide an
industry that negates the need for game run shops and manufacture.
But only if the game is as entertaining for these players as it is for
the fighters.


Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey

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