[MUD-Dev] Maintaining fiction.

[Alex Kay]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Trump" <trump at vividvideo.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 8:10 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Maintaining fiction.

> I was spurred to write this by the discussion of perma death on
> MUD-Dev a while back, but forgot to actually post it....
 
> Fake death is a fiction breaker.  The most important reason to want
> to have perma death is to keep the all important fiction alive (We
> are talking about RPGs here right?)  I guess you really need to
> decide early on how important RP is to your game.  Most games which
> profess to be RPGs are really just adventure games(AG) in a fantasy
> setting.

[big snip]

It's interesting. I remember when I started playing EQ and there was
alot of talk on whineplay to show all the numbers. I was in favour of
this at the time, finding some of the vagueness annoying, and falling
into the trap of playing the stats game.

After a year or so I tried AC and found the stats overwhelming, it
took the numbers game to the extreme. I quickly found I didn't like
this much at all and had a new appreciation for Verant's stance on not
showing the numbers (which has lately been relaxed it seems, though I
'quit' a few months back).

Now, I would welcome a game that hid all that. I have little doubt
that this would reduce/eliminate the power gamers and l33t dudes and
encourage roleplay.

I also agree with the idea of using metaphors to increase immersion,
but wonder at it's practicality. At the moment the market is (in
general) trying to appeal to the mass market, and hence publishers
want to minimise the barriers to entry.

No doubt we'll see a lot more variety in this regard as the market
matures. People will have more choice and gravitate to games in which
they share similar interests. Smaller more focused communities will
also help build environments more compatible with your style of play.

I liked the ideas regarding combat/death. I've been knocking an idea
around in my head for some time, particularly regarding PvP combat.
Rather than fights leading to 'immediate' death, have the loser fall
unconscious for a period (sort of like EQ does, to this point), but
they can then be looted or whatever at this point if necessary.

After the loser has fallen unconscious the victor then has the ability
to strike the 'killing blow'. This would have to be a deliberate act
(via a 'kill' key or something). There would be severe penalties for
both combatants. Possibly permadeath for the loser and permanent loss
of stats/faction, etc for the victor.

While you would always have grief players, if the penalties are severe
enough you would have few that would actually 'kill' given this
method.

Alex



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