[MUD-Dev] Morphable worlds, Reset based systems revisited

[Clay]

Arnau Rosselló Castelló wrote:

> Well, you could, instead of abruptly replacing the rules, and
> pissing a large part of the user base, make a system where the
> rules morph slowly over time, making some abilities or objects
> more or less efective. In one cycle the effects of cutting blades
> could be stronger, giving an edge to warriors, for maybe one
> month, then, after the peak it would decline again; Players would
> go back to their hammer of stunning(or whatever). One month the
> mage's ligthning bolts could make 6 bolts of 4-5 damage, next
> month it could be 15 bolts of damage 1. That way new tactics would
> emerge when the particular state of the rules favours them, and
> others would be abandoned(until they are favored again). The game
> would be more dinamic, and new players would find a world that's
> still "new", in the sense that everybody is learning new tactics
> all the time, not aplying the tried and true formula the faster
> they can.

That sounds like it would be so extraordinarily frustrating.
Everything you learn would need to be perpetually unlearned, every
achievement would soon have the rug pulled out from under it, and
you persist in a state of confusion and uncertainty.  Sounds
superficially more interesting, as an earthquake sounds like it
would make hiking more interesting, but when the ground keeps
shifting it's hard to maintain an interest in where you're going:
when you reach the top of the mountain you now discover it's a
valley, so just as well to stand still ... and then why am I here at
all?

If "dynamic" simply means random, purposeless change, then it only
takes away from the game experience.  That sort of dynamism is just
dull.

But if these changes had some sort of trajectory, something which
might be attached to (and explained by) global events (Asheron's
Call had some interesting effects where certain magics behaved
differently as the evil lord reawakened and a blight descended on
the world) ... well, that could be something.  But still, change
needs an anchor, something discernible grounding, or else it's just
frustration.

Clay Fenlason


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