Random? Numbers (was:RE: Brand Loyalty (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Req uire ments for MM(wasComplexities of MMOG Servers)))

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

From: Lars Duening [mailto:lars at bearnip.com] 

> To encourage streaks of critical successes, you could take the
> original bell-distributed random value, multiply it by a factor >
> 1 and then clip the result to your target range. This moves the
> bulge of the number distribution towards the high end of the value
> range, making critical successes more and critical failures even
> less likely.
 
> ...hmm, in a game with gods and belief systems, this would be a
> nice way to reward truly pious players.

Well it would be except that if its significant enough to be a
worthwhile reward, it would probably be gamed by all powergamers.

How does one measure peity? Perhaps they payment of a tithe and
never killing certain creatures considered in alignment with the
god. Seems to me that this might be dangerous ground to tread on
though, players may well feel they have to obey those rules, but
probably resent them every moment they do. Whilst I don't agree with
over trivialising games to pamper players, building in what may be
an inherently unfun mechanic concerns me.

Dan
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