Powergaming (was RE: [MUD-Dev] How much is enough?)

[Zach Collins {Siege}]

On Tue, 30 Apr 2002, Kwon Ekstrom wrote:
> From: "Jeff Cole" <jeff.cole at mindspring.com>

> I agree, powergaming isn't a problem, it's simply a playing style
> which is most effective at reaching an optimum level.  As a power
> gamer myself, I don't have any problem with it.  My solution to
> power gaming is complexity.  By increasing the number of stats and
> attributes required to make the system work, you make things more
> difficult to "power game" as such.

I've discovered the opposite in P&P games.  The biggest problem I
had with 2nd Edition AD&D, for example, was when the various class
and race handbooks came out; Skills and Powers was the worst of the
crowd, because you could build all the other munchkin characters
(and more) using its rules.  The more complex a game system becomes,
the easier it gets to point a character in an extreme direction.

The problem is not power gamers, the problem is player-discouragers:
It's a pain having your low-level character killed in one hit for
the 10 XP and endless taunting that the act is worth.  It's a pain
having players you don't know kill you for being polite and actually
asking for permission to enter their territory.  It's a pain
spending hours or even days on a quest, only to have the prize
snatched from you by an untouchable rogue with triple your speed.
Too much pain, and people leave the game for good.

> In this sence, every human being is a power gamer, their abilities
> vary.  I've found some of the worst mudders I've run across make
> wonderful #2's in a clan.  They're socializers and keep track of
> what everyone is doing.  Everyone has their niche... what people
> normally consider a power gamer generally excells at mindlessly
> bashing things.  My ability was I excelled as an explorer, and
> really enjoyed killing my fellow player because people are
> sometimes more interesting to kill than npcs.

An excellent point.  And of course 'bad mudder' becomes a
meaningless term when there are capabilities in the game itself that
every player type can take advantage of, such as communication
channels, a broad and deep variety of every thing (spells,
equipment, mobs, landscape), items or skills useful in ways other
than combat (a gemcutter's eyepiece, telekinesis, book-making,
usw.), and NPCs that can be negotiated with by contract or by sword.

--
Zach Collins (Siege)

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