[MUD-Dev] Persistent worlds in NWN (was: Retention without Addiction?)

[Valerio Santinelli]

Taylor wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Valerio Santinelli wrote:

>> I've been on this list for a long time.. much before NWN was even
>> released.  The fact that I happened to write PW hacks for NWN is
>> casual :)

> I've also been on the list for a long time, though mostly
> lurking. I've used lots of the information and reasources that
> I've gotten off this list to build my Persistant World mod
> "Taliesin". I'm finding that the information about MUDs is more
> applicable to NWN mods than the Massively Multiplayer
> information. Since the playerbase is so much smaller and more
> intimate, all fo those social structures that failed in the
> massive games seem to work again in a NWN mod.

That's true. A module cannot be very big. The maximum number of
players online at the same time is in the same scope as MUDs. Even
less.

> But as a poster noted all of the same problems reappear, the
> current one I'm trying to solve is to make my mod more accessible
> for the starting player while still keeping it challenging for the
> more experianced player.

I think that everybody running a PW is facing this problem. it's
mainly because you do not have a complete control over how
difficulty is handled by the game. For example, if you use the
encounters tool available in Aurora, you can place an easy encounter
in a newbie zone. But if a powerful character crosses this zone, the
encounter spawns with enemies that are easy for such a powerful
player but nearly impossible for newbies.  I've seen people handle
this in various ways by building their own spawn system and so on.

Introducing the player to your world mechanics is also something
difficult to accomplish. I have made tutors that teach you some of
the story behind the world and a lot of friendly characters near the
starting point so that new players can start understanding how
things work in the game.

--
Valerio Santinelli
One Man Crew Gaming Community (http://www.onemancrew.org)
My Lab (http://tanis.hateseed.com)
HateSeed.com Founder (http://www.hateseed.com)
In Flames Italia Webmaster (http://www.inflames.it)



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev