[MUD-Dev] Alternatives to Permadeath

[szii at sziisoft.com]

From: "Jon Leonard" <jleonard at slimy.com>

> I've been pondering Dr. Bartles statement that a game means more
> with Permadeath in it, in that it is not longer possible to
> achieve the highest level (or whatever) merely by persistence.
 
> It seems to me that it'd be possible to have other ways of
> limiting high advancement to players of greater skill.  The first
> method that came to mind was having a scheme with exponentially
> decaying unspent experince.


Off the cuff, I hate it.  =P

>From a player's point of view, my character LIVES in this world.
Even while not out adventuring/slaying monsters/questing he should
be honing his skills in town, doing katas every morning, researching
in the library, etc.

I dislike decaying ANYTHING because it's a never ending battle, much
like trying to keep a house clean with a child around.  I don't play
games to simply try and "keep up" my standing.  I want to advance.

If you want to solve the "persistance" problem or people levelling,
I'd suggest one of five things...

  1)  Pre-req's.  The monsters gain big bonuses to hit/damage you if..

     a)  Not a certain level
     b)  Stats too low... ie, bonuses if you're under 20 dex...
     c)  You don't have certain protective "quest talismans."
     d)  Faction is bad

  2) Stat loss for death.  The most fun MUD I ever played on had
  "buyable" stats.  100plat for 1-18, per point.  500plat for 19-25,
  per point.  That was a lot of cash for the world, and of course
  people WILL cap out.  However, when you die you took a 50% chance
  to lose 1 point of out of 1 stat, or 1 point out of 2 stats.  This
  puts a huge "fear" of death in the players because their own
  actions (not just existance) is costing them time/gold/plat.  If
  you die to a mob, you risk up to 1k pp on a bad roll.  Ouch.  This
  definately reduces "zerging" mobs to kill them.  (Think Starcraft
  Zerg where your simply flood the enemy with expendibles.)

  3) While I'm not sure I like it, cap the xp earned per day.
  People can still log-in, chat, run around and kill stuff...they
  just won't get xp.  They can train their "trade skills" but again,
  these can be capped per day.  This has the disadvantage of some
  people "never being able to catch up" simply due to the RL days *
  capped levels.

  4) Don't EVER in any way put in things that "recover" your xp on a
  death.  No EQ rezzes, no AO terminals, nada.  Too many games are
  downplaying death and xp loss, and it's only catering to those
  same persistance players.

  5) Decreasing xp based on time-in-zone.  There's only "so much"
  your character can learn from killing the same mob(s) over and
  over and over.  Make them get out and explore.  Make them move
  around.  Make them fight new things and in new areas.

  6) You simply make the game REALLY FREAKING HARD.  I don't mean
  mobs with massive hps and deathtouch, a la EQ.  This requires a
  good AI and some randomness.  No static spawns.  Social mobs.  Do
  not put anything in the game which allows a mob to forget you,
  including Zoning.  Excellent pathing.  Make the game so that you
  have to be smart about how you play or you either won't get
  anywhere or you'll die.  Most MUD creatures are "stupid", static
  and reactionary.  There's really no reason to do it this way
  except for time.  Random spawns, random timers, random "retake our
  homeland" rushes.  Random monsters with random hps and levels.
  The unknown, and the fear of it will slow down 90% of your
  "persistance" players, especially if coupled with a penalty, like
  stat losses.

Any fool can cap out in a game.

60% of these will join "uber guilds" in some form or another,
whatever the genre or world 5% are really good enough to lead them.
These are the only people that should be allow to attain the upper
levels.

IMHO, when you see someone of huge level you should ooh-and-aah.
Not just think "oh man, he plays/xp's a LOT."

-Mike/Szii

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