[MUD-Dev] Crafting/Creation systems

[Damion Schubert]

From: John Buehler

> If you want to find out if your crafting system is inherently
> entertaining, make it such that the items that it creates are
> useless.  If players still craft, then you've got something.  Of
> course, everything has a value to somebody, so it's a difficult
> test to establish, let alone pass.  But that's the general idea.
> Beyond that test is the test of whether other players will find
> what is crafted desireable, etc.

In Meridian 59, players crafted because it made them important to a
wide range of other players.  There were very few menders, and those
menders ended up being the social hub for the game, as their craft
was fairly irreplaceable.

In Ultima Online, I don't know exactly how to describe the fantasy I
saw repeated over and over again, but I saw it on the boards over
and over again: players wanted the ability to 'open a little shop'
where they could sling ale or be a blacksmith or whatever.  Perhaps
it's nothing more than a chance to live out their opportunity to be
an entrepreneur without risk, or to live in a pastoral environment
of peace and tranquility.

> Imagine a game that only exists for the purpose of crafting.
> There are no achievements.  You just spend time creating things.
> It's "Legos Online" or whatever.  Can that be made into an
> entertaining game?

Well, we'll find out when the Sims comes out, now won't we? ;-)

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