[MUD-Dev] Re: The Future of MMOGs... what's next?

[Amanda Walker]

On 6/28/02 1:46 PM, Travis Casey <efindel at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Thursday, June 27, 2002, 7:56:21 AM, shren wrote:

>> That, or let players play whatever they like, which is an
>> interesting concept I wonder if anyone's tried yet.
 
> It's been done plenty of times in paper RPGs, although "GM
> approval" is usually required. [...] Coming from a paper D&D
> perspective, it doesn't matter to me whether someone got their
> character "legally" -- all that matters is whether or not that
> character is appropriate to the adventure being run, and whether
> the player is a decent player (by which I mean someone who's going
> to be fun to play with, not necessarily someone who's "better" at
> playing the game).

Indeed.  I played a lot of D&D, Rolemaster, and Traveller in high
school and college (many years ago).  We never bothered with
worrying about stats and linear advancement.  Each campaign started
with "OK, roll up a level X character and list what equipment you
want."  Interestingly, there were persistent characters--but instead
of being persistent in equipment, xp, etc., they were persistent in
name, personality, and play style.  It gave a bit of a "Black Adder"
feel, as the same characters would be doing a dungeon crawl one
month and exploring a new planet the next, but it was quite fun.

Automating this is an interesting challenge, of course--a human GM
is a lot more flexible and a lot harder to "game" than an automated
ruleset.  However, it may be that this is where more "game AI"
effort could be focussed: not just on monster behavior, but game
mechanics.


Amanda Walker

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