[MUD-Dev] Total Annilation of Downtime

[shren]

On Fri, 6 Dec 2002, Matthew Dobervich wrote:
> From: shren
>> On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Freeman, Jeff wrote:
 
>>> So, lots of incentive to return to the game, but not much
>>> incentive to stay playing the game for very long once you're in
>>> it.  Even purchasing a house upgrade, for another example,
>>> doesn't encourage you to play longer and go decorate your (now
>>> larger) house, but instead encourages you to login tomorrow
>>> (when the upgrade is complete).
  
>>> Anyway, not a MUD, as I said, but it's worth checking out.
 
>> Reminds me of Anarchy Online's "enter and get your own copy of
>> the dungeon" - I believe Destination Games was discussing
>> something similar, where you go in and get your own copy of the
>> "dungeon".  (They used an amusement park ride analogy.)  All
>> you'd have to do is time-limit the dungeon entry and you'd have
>> similar features in your MMORPG.

> Worlds of Warcraft is planning to do the same thing.  I also agree
> with Jeff that Animal Crossing is something members of this list
> should check out, just don't be surprised if your SO takes it over
> once you buy it.  <smile>

Worlds of Warcraft sounds like a lot of fun.  I've enjoyed a lot of
Blizzard products in the past.  I don't have the requisite hardware
for Animal Crossing nor a lot of spare time, so I'll happily pass.

On the subject of new games, here's what penny arcade had to say
about Asheron's Call 2:

-- Quote from penny-arcade.com --
  I'm as shocked as anybody, but Gabe is completely into Asheron's
  Call 2. I invariably must play a game like this by myself until I
  find a somebody to crew with, but it's actually him that suggested
  it. Having never played a game of this kind, he couldn't
  understand the fairly random distribution of loot gained by
  victorious combat - i.e., what is this Rat Man doing with a lute? 
  There are, of course, many possibilities - though only one seems
  truly plausible.
  
  Overcoming incredible odds of breeding - and indeed, manual
  dexterity - this creature was a rodent virtuoso of startling
  power.
  
  Even more perplexing was the large beetle and the gold ring, but I
  feel as though we have constructed a reasonably sound
  scenario. Lutes and rings are, to us, incidental anyhow - because
  of the way crafting(!!!) works in the game, a lute is just a chunk
  of wood, and a nice ring merely a piece of metal. Every object has
  properties like Iron or Stone attached to it, and if a given item
  has a certain requisite value in these properties it can be
  changed - right then and there - into another object
  altogether. I'm despondent that food preparation is gone from the
  first Asheron's Call, because that's essentially all I ever did in
  that game, with the assistance of a dapper, magical cap that made
  me a culinary genius. I have found that, in actual practice, I do
  not miss the cooking as much as I thought I would. There are
  always things to make, and any player can, in fact, produce all
  their own equipment with very little hassle for a long while. It
  starts to get fairly expensive eventually, so I think for the
  finer goods you'll start to see a bit of stratification.
  
  There's no encumbrance in the game - that is to say, your
  character does not get weighed down by inventory items. There's
  also no stores, at least, none that I've seen, and you have the
  ability to turn any item into gold immediately. These two things
  combined with the wherewithal to make all your own gear means that
  you only need to stop adventuring and go back to town if you
  really feel like it. There are forges in cities that confer a
  bonus to produce items, but you can certainly succeed without
  them, so it still feels very much like a choice. The encumbrance
  and gold things really go against RPG tradition (i.e. "Assumed
  wisdom"), and honestly, I think it's better for it.
-- end quote --

Wow.  MMORPGs and Monty Haul meet in a harmonious union that brings
in new gamers to the field.  Have we been talking about this and I
missed it?  It's very, very interesting.  In the average situation
the average gamer finds an item and all he really wants to do is
turn it into gold, but I never thought of letting him do it
directly.  They are really gunning for mass appeal here, and they
seem to have succeeded.

Any comments?


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