[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

[Rayzam]

From: "Sasha Hart" <hart.s at attbi.com>
> [Rayzam]

>> Now, the market for twinking was really big, as FASA
>> [Battletech/Shadowrun] could attest to.

> But, understanding Shadowrun's limitations as a twink game: oh my
> god, what a totally fun twink game. Character generation by itself
> was a GAME. Oh man.

There's nothing stopping current games having a great character
generation system. What's interesting is that many of the single
player rpg's have much more detailed and longer character generation
than the online ones. The online ones that do have longer generation
systems have most of the time spent in customizing the avatar. Now,
customizing how you look is great for character investment, but I'd
say the same for more time spent in character generation too.

I love playing Shadowrun. The first two editions had their problems,
and I don't know anyone who didn't have some set of house
rules. That's one thing missing from online games. Many take their
roots from PnP games, but unlike those, sets of players can't come
up with their own house rules.  Maybe that's the direction of
persistent world NeverWinter Nights?

> So I have to say I'm on the fence about this powergaming thing,
> because the word is sometimes tied to good things (real structure
> and game, lack of puritan work ethic applied to what oughtta be
> PLAY, healthy lack of the nitpicking and social jockeying that are
> so common as to be virtually unavoidable parts of roleplay) and to
> bad (breaking setting, lack of cooperation, mindless juvenile
> pkill, etc.).

I agree with you. Powergaming is part of the game. A designer should
plan for it, but in such planning, set an upper boundary. Of course,
a designer should also set a lower boundary too.

    rayzam



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev