[MUD-Dev] Locations vs Social Spaces (was: I Want to Forge Swords)

[Derek Licciardi]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Phillip Lenhardt
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 8:20 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Locations vs Social Spaces (was: I Want to Forge
> Swords)

> On Wed, May 09, 2001 at 11:15:54PM +0100, Marian Griffith wrote:
>> In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Wed 09 May, Sie Ming wrote:

>>> A question to which I don't have an answer is: How much travel is
>>> needed to make something a distinct location?

>> That is fairly simple to answer :)

>> Slightly more than the average player is willing to wait in a
>> single game session.  And that means that the travel must not only
>> cover a significant distance but also must keep the player from
>> speedwalking there.

> Making a player waste time, just to enforce an artificial sense of
> scale, is Bad. Travel is boring (excepting for Buehler's game, where
> the process of travelling from point A to point is by design as much
> fun as whatever is at point B). People don't enjoy sitting 20
> minutes on a boat in EQ.

I would have to agree with you that the trip on the boat in EQ was not
the most fun thing I have ever done.  I played a druid as a result and
forgot what boats looked like except in a few rare cases.  What is
adequately accomplished in the boat concept that EQ has, is seperation
of locations.  Not only is it physical, but it is time.  If this did
not exist, I am afraid you will only increase your chances of having
every player in the game come to a certain spot and crash your server.
EQ relies on the fact that its population is spread throughout the
known world, forcing them to make time based cost-benefit decisions
before they travel.  Subsequent releases of expansion packs have made
travel slightly easier, as it is not nearly as difficult to get to
Kunark as it is to get to Antonica from Butcherblock Mountains.(racial
faction aside) The trick in my opinion is to find the middle ground
that your players are willing to tolerate while keeping the locations
seperate enough to allow them to develop their own communities.  This
is what makes Paris so different from London and each of them
different from New York.  A completely connected society where instant
travel occurs creates a single social structure and no variety.

In our quest to devise the best online world, there is always a
tradeoff between 'fun' and 'realism'.  This is because in real life
the things we do are not always 'fun'.  The problem arises in that
those things that are not 'fun' are some of the things that major
subsystems of our world depend upon for proper functioning.(primarily
economy and market trading) There is no absolute best way.  It is a
function of the player base and your admin's philosophy on how to run
his or her world.  Finding the balance that serves both parties is
what makes that game perfect for those people and is one of the
reasons why so many MUDs and soon MORPGs can coexist.

Derek

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