[MUD-Dev] Mass customization in MM***s

[Matt Mihaly]

On Fri, 19 Jul 2002, Amanda Walker wrote:

> I've been involved with the SCA for over 20 years, though not with
> fighting except as a spectator.  This influenced my suggestions a
> few months ago that combat could be treated more like "fighting
> games", where there are no levels at all--the outcome depends on
> the actual skill of the player, not the character.
 
> It would be pleasant to find an MMO game where the ability to
> enjoy game content depended more on actual skill than on punching
> an xp time clock.

There are MUDs that work alone these lines, you know. My company's,
Achaea and Aetolia, for instance, and we're not alone.

It's not entirely skill, of course, because there ARE levels, but
they aren't particularly important. Most of the best fighters aren't
ultra-high level anyway, because if you fight a lot, you're
inevitably going to die with some frequency. You do need to build up
your skill tree some, and you can buy items that give you reasonably
minor advantages (for instance, for ~US$250 you can get a sword
whose speed, to-hit, and damage stats are about 10% better than the
average sword, and won't decay.

But all in all, what's coming from the player is the most important
factor in success in our combat. We have had players who have spent
thousands of dollars, gotten to be reasonably high level (though
it's just not that important. Gives small incremental advantages.),
and are still incompetent combatants. (I'm talking PvP combat
here. Our PvE combat is underdeveloped and isn't the focus.) I don't
know any graphical MUDs that work like this, but if this is what you
want, play Counterstrike, or maybe wait for the SOE product,
PlanetSide, which bills itself as a first-person shooter graphical
MUD.

And in MUDs with politics, skill is 90% of that part of the
game. Real idiots have a hard time staying in office. You see this
in probably more games than you see skilled combat in, including
Dark Ages, Achaea, Aetolia, and many more. Sure, I've seen people
buying other people's votes for some desired office in a guild or
city-state before, but those people generally don't successfully
stay in office long, because they can't afford to keep buying the
voters indefinitely.

Anyway, there are games out there that have what you're looking for,
they're just not (yet) among the biggest releases.

--matt

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