[MUD-Dev] MMORPGs & MUDs

[Vincent Archer]

According to J C Lawrence:

> What are the predominantly observed forms of RP (any definition)
> seen on those servers; in terms of numbers of players, percentage
> of player time engaged in activity, and stated player
> admiration/desirability of activity?
 
> Are the RP servers popular because they contain significant levels
> of RP (of some definition) or are they popular due to some other
> indirect/unrelated quality (eg lower PK/griefer rates) which isn't
> reflected in actual discernible RP activity?

Seeing as I am playing on several servers (as many explorer profiles
I think, I play on 3, on for each realm), including one of the RP
servers, I can put in my own experiences.

I don't remember if it's been clearly explained in this thread, but
the only definition of "role-playing" Mythic has put for these
servers is quite simple: no naming that wouldn't be "good enough for
a father to give to their daughters or sons at the time" (which is
interpreted quite liberally because most names wouldn't even be
imagined at that epoch; Buttcheeks would be out, however), and no
"anachronistic talk in public channels". You can talk about your
levels, or what's good experience and what's not, or quests, but
placing bets about who's going to be 1st in the NBA this year is
out, except on the private group/guild channels.

That's it.

I don't think you can adequately measure these percentages. But I
was witness to several role-playing sessions I stumbled upon during
my travels (including knighting of a newly recruited guild member,
all done formally at the Albion Church), and never saw anything
remotely approaching that on any of the servers.

An old friend, who played briefly EverQuest, left because, while
somewhat fun, it wasn't what he was seeking as a "RPG". He's on the
same DAoC server as I am (in a different guild), and as far as I can
see, happy as a clam.

The "no anachronistic talk unless agreed" rule is mostly respected
even in group chat. In many groups (I tend often to group within my
own guild, as we're now numerous enough to get an "optimal" group
together quite often), you don't see anachronistic talk until
someone begins (typically with a reference to EverQuest), then, if
no one says anything, the conversation rapidly drifts in all
directions and topics.  But it's a case of somebody willing to make
the first step; nobody's really sure if OOC talk is ok or not.

The same usual obnoxious behaviours appear (kill-stealing, chiefly),
but the chief difference is that people, on the average, are more
polite, and more helpful on these servers. You see less occurences
of "grief healing" (an artefact of the DAoC XP system, in which
somebody healing someone in a fight gets some share of the XP in the
end), for instance.

I'm not sure this *attracted* people. From the population curves,
the two existing servers were that popular from day 1, when the only
thing people had to guide their choice was the "RP server" tag (and
most probably didn't even see the RP ruleset at the time). The
population since launch has remained about constant. That's where
Dave could bring us some stats, but I don't think the RP servers
have gained more than 5-10% population in the three months since
launch.

The newly launched "RP server", while not yet in the top 5, is
already more popular than some of the established ones, so I guess
there is an attraction to the kind of environment fostered by the
(small) ruleset.

--
	Vincent Archer			Email:	archer at frmug.org

All men are mortal.  Socrates was mortal.  Therefore, all men are Socrates.
							(Woody Allen)
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