[MUD-Dev] Continuous versus Discrete Functions

[Peter Harkins]

On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 07:03:58PM -0800, John Buehler wrote:
> Dave Rickey writes:
>> From: John Buehler <johnbue at msn.com>
 
>>> This pattern is fairly common and I'm stumped as to why the
>>> discrete function (apparently implemented as tables or cascading
>>> conditionals) is the function of choice for system designers.
>>> My time on flight simulators showed me the power of continuous
>>> functions - especially when multiple continuous functions are
>>> contributing to the outcome of any activity.
 
>> Two reasons:
 
>>   1) Players seem to hate discontinuous feedback from the system.
>>   To them, something either works, or it does not.  This tends to
>>   reflect itself as extreme criticism of any portion of the game
>>   system that provides a spectrum of outputs.

> So you're stating that, in your experience, my expectations are in
> the distinct minority?  That players prefer on/off and
> success/fail behaviors?

This is probably because of another discrete function in this
context. In current games, typically a monster is either alive or
dead.  While the game presents an injured state, this state is
functionally no different from the alive state. So it's no surprise
that players are thinking of this in black and white terms - they
want to effect the one status change possible. In the absence of
outright killing the creature, they'll fall back into the behavior
mentioned in a subthread of this discussion - getting the highest
amount of damage.

(Sorry for the long delay, playing catch-up. And yes, I know a small
number of MUDs are implementing states of injury.)
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