[MUD-Dev] Proposed Law

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

John Buehler wrote:
> There's no entertainment in its destruction, but it facilitates
> entertainment if used.
> 
> Part of this law is a prod to encourage designers to get away from
> the motif of constant destruction.  I'm working on a design document
> for a game, and combat is predicated on blunt weapons and martial
> arts.  Nobody dies.  They get knocked out.  That way I don't lose
> the content of my NPCs and their relationships with other NPCs and
> players.  NPCs can die, but it's an unusual occurrence, and not
> controlled by players.

Not really sure what you mean here. Dying does not destroy content?
Burning creative user built content (i.e. a wonderful garden) destroys
content.  Still, attacking defense systems, leaving 25% in ruin does not
destroy content, it gives content a meaning. And thus enhances
content... and probably stimulates further creativity, i.e. the search
for an improved design.

Designer originating content, hmm, that should not be destroyed
permanently anyway, so how is that a problem?  The schema should not be
destroyed, and design are better done at that level, not the instance
level.  The real problem is tied to establishing visible and compelling
non-destructive cooperative achievement scales for social comparison.
Which developers won't do because players expect to win by destroying
things.

--
Ola  -  http://folk.uio.no/olag/

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