[MUD-Dev] Crafting/Creation systems

[John Buehler]

Ron Gabbard writes:
> From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at msn.com>
>> Paul Boyle writes:

> Make is such that the items created are useless?  That's the
> situation with most MMOGs.  Mob-dropped items are almost always
> superior to player-crafted.  I agree with the 'explorer' argument
> with regards to crafting.  One thing I've tried to put into the
> trades system I've been toying with is a sense of discovery and
> ownership of that discovery... as well as random events that get
> the heart racing.

I'll start out by saying that I *want* an entertaining crafting
experience.  The trades are one of my primary interests in gaming
and I'm similarly disappointed by the trivial treatment that they
receive.

My suggestion was to provide a test for designers coming up with
crafting systems to determine if their crafting system was
entertaining.  If they only packaged up the crafting system and
tried to sell it as a game on its own merits, would anyone play it?
In truth, I'd apply that test to the combat systems as well.  I've
gotta believe that people play these games primarily for social
reasons.  The raw entertainment really isn't there.

> Miners own their mines and the ore/gem/precious metal mined from
> that vein will be relatively stable.  However, there is also the
> chance that hitting a certain pocket will unleash a subterranean
> monster to be dealt with, or that rare super-size gem might be
> harvested, or a long-buried artifact from a long-dead civilization
> might be uncovered which triggers a 'what the heck is this' quest
> for the miner, or even breaking through to a subterranean cavern
> that triggers a server-wide quest and introduces a new dungeon
> into the world.  The gathering of raw materials by players is so
> necessary in order to have a balanced, inflation-proof economy but
> mining, lumberjacking and such are typically the most boring of
> all the trades.

I have an aversion to long hours of boredom punctuated by moments of
entertainment.  My most fundamental tenet to crafting is that the
boring part has to be entertaining.  If it can't be done, then don't
have players do that part.  Have NPCs do it and have the players
manage them.  I could easily imagine that harvesting could be made
entertaining, at least for a while, but it's not by hearing the same
chopping and cutting sounds and seeing the same animation on the
exact same tree graphic over and over again.  Every activity in a
game that a player is invited to engage in must be more entertaining
than current combat systems.  And that includes combat and forestry.

Note that I don't believe that harvesting raw materials *by players*
has anything at all to do with a balanced, inflation-proof economy.

> The second stage crafters are the component makers... the
> alchemists and metallurgists.  I went with an attribute-based
> system instead of a recipe-based system.  [snip details]

Doesn't that just delay the onset of a recipe system?  Same comment
for 'final stage crafters'.

> This system makes some basic assumptions: Differences in item
> attributes must be supported by the other systems in the game.

[snip examples]

Absolute agreement there.  Crafted items should ideally be variable
in every parameter that the game systems support.  And game systems
should support a bunch of 'em.  Not gratuitously, but meaningfully
such that they add to the entertainment of the game for everyone.

> Secondly, one of the biggest downfalls to most crafter communities
> stems from the oversupply of crafters.  Rich players will log on
> their trade mule and powerskill their trade mule character while
> at work or otherwise occupied where they can't play a 'real'
> character.  It's that low of involvement.  The end result is that
> the trade mule has the same skill set as the character who spends
> their entire life in a city hawking their wares and really
> 'playing' the crafter role.  Increase the involvement of the
> crafting process and you have given the 'core crafters' a
> much-needed competitive edge over the trade mules.

If you end up with recipe-based crafting, those recipes will be
published and all players will know how to make the stuff.  So that
cannot be the discriminator to separate serious crafters from those
who just want the end-result.  This is where game designers attempt
to make it hard to become a crafter.  And they do that by making
crafting boring.  Given that PvE is usually boring, this actually
doesn't deter the non-crafters any more than the crafters.  I favor
a simple statement by players that they want their character to be a
good crafter OR a good politician OR a good fighter OR a good
doctor.  Whatever specialization they care to pursue.  If you don't
want to specialize, be a pretty good politician-doctor-crafter.  Or
whatever.  The point being that the selection of profession and
character competency in the game environment should be arbitrary.
And the players should be able to rebalanced at any time, but with a
low change.  If I'm a perfectly trained fighter today and want to be
a perfectly trained crafter, I say today that I want to be a
perfectly-trained crafter.  In six weeks, I'll be fully changed
over.  In three weeks, half of each.  While I'm in transition, I'll
lose my fighting skills (starting at the high end) and I'll start
gaining on the crafting skills.  With skills gained, I may have to
visit trainers, go on quests, etc. in order to work with the game
fiction of acquiring all the skills, but I gain them inexorably.

Short form: being a crafter is a commitment by the player to pursue
a certain avenue of entertainment in the game.  If I want to be a
master tailor, I have to choose that over other avenues of
entertainment.

> Finally, just because someone likes making the items (regardless
> of involvement) and enjoys the whole creation process doesn't mean
> that they have the interpersonal skills to sell the items.
> Language and cultural differences may drive some of this but some
> of it is just driven by differences in personality.  Design
> distribution systems where crafters can sell their wares without
> being door-to-door sales people.  The 'reward' to the crafter
> would vary by involvement of the distribution system but the
> individual player can decide whether the reward is worth the cost.

> By varying the distribution systems and final products they can
> carry, you end up with a world where each player can determine
> their own experience.  A player may decide to hit the local
> '7-Eleven' and pick up a 'stock' sword that isn't 'ideal' for them
> and expensive given its effectiveness... but is usable and
> convenient.  Or, they may travel a bit to get to a blacksmith's
> shop where there may be a greater variety of inventoried weapons
> for sale that are better suited for that character giving them
> 'more bang for the buck'.  Or, the character may search out a
> specific blacksmith to have a weapon custom-made for them given
> their strength, size, and other determining factors.  The players
> place their own cost/benefit ratio on activities... which is a
> good thing in promoting the individualized experience.

I'm with you on this stuff.  Let the players discover natural
structures for the economy.  Of course, the game designers are going
to have to anticipate the difference between the virtual checks and
balances versus the real world checks and balances.  We all know
that they're not the same.

> The 'Crafter Experience' needs to be more than just repetitively
> hitting a button and making generic products.  Imagine if the
> combat systems were such that characters would run up to an
> opponent and just hit <ATTACK> and the RNG would determine if you
> win or lose based on the variance between character skill level
> and difficulty of the target.  Casters would automatically cast
> 'Spell'... Ranged combatants would automatically shoot
> 'Projectile'... Melee combatants would swing 'Weapon'.  I could
> have written that code on my Apple IIe in BASIC... yet that's
> where most games are with their trade skills.

It's funny that you say this because I've presented this exact
comparison in defense of how unentertaining crafting systems are.
Designers do not 'get it'.

JB

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