[MUD-Dev] D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity"

[lynx at lynx.purrsia.com]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2003, Matt Mihaly wrote:

> Yeah, those are political interactions and I can definitely see
> where those games have them. They're pretty basic though and don't
> seem as if that gameplay is very integrated with the rest of the
> game or as if that gameplay is even supported by the game rules.

Maybe we should take a step back here.  There's a parallel between
'I want to have politics so I can rule with an iron fist/engage in
wheeling and dealing' and 'I want to have thievery in the game so I
can steal from people' in the sense that people *may* want to be
able to do these things to others, but don't necessarily want to be
done unto.

Consider this scenario: you develop a game with a complicated
political system.  Player A comes in and goes 'Wow, this is great, I
want to be top of the heap!'  Players B, C, and D come in and say 'I
don't want to be involved with this, this game has complicated
crafting/combat system that I do want to be involved in, but I don't
want politics to get in my way.'

Do you force players B, C, and D to participate in the political
system so that player A can have players to rule?

If they don't participate in the political system, over whom does
player A rule, and how can player A be competed against?

My take on it: use an NPC citizenry.  Any vote that a player fails
to assign is accounted for by the NPCs, which cast votes according
to their situation (is the city economy doing well or poorly) and
their perception of the candidates (are they especially charismatic
or influential).  If all players participate in the political
system, the political system is completely player-driven, but if a
majority of players do not participate, then 'political skills' can
sway or dominate the system.

Just a thought, but I think we need to remember that we don't always
have to try to recreate real life in tedious details.

-- Conrad


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