[MUD-Dev] Request for ideas

[Ben Chambers]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicolai Hansen" <nic at aub.dk>
> Quote "Freeman, Jeff" <jfreeman at soe.sony.com>:

>> Begin with the assumption that players will kill anything that
>> moves, and work from there. :P

> A good approach could be to consider why players kill anything in
> sight.  If you ask -me- it is because they seek advancement
> (that's what most play for on MUDs), a solution to this could
> maybe be to make a MUD where killing did not matter for
> advancement, something I have considered for a loooong time :o) A
> completely skill-based environment might do the job, and would fit
> great with the idea behind the eco system.

Using skills and quests to discourage killing everything is probably
the easiest way to balance the ecosystem.  What if you got better by
how many times you swing your sword and how difficult it was to
manage to strike the enemy?  If this were the case, players would be
more inclined to fight challenging opponents, in order to advance
easier.  You could put an advancement cap based on the difficulty of
the creature being attacked as well.

> Hey, you could make a MUD where you only got one life.. ;)

Instead of only getting one life, integrate the death system.  What
if each character belonged to a religion.  As they do certain
quests, their deity's favor with the said player increases.  When
that player dies, he goes to his deity's underworld, where he is
assigned a quest in order to improve the deity's underworld and
return to his world.  This quest is more difficult based upon how
much the deity likes you.  When you finally return, your stats
slowly return to normal.  In this way coming back to life takes a
long time, but it is still possible, and doesn't cost anything.  It
also creates another quest reward.


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