[MUD-Dev] A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death

[David H. Loeser Jr.]

Eamonn O'Brien wrote:

> I am a fan of permadeath and aging in MUDs and MMOs and finding a
> system that is fair for all and does not contain loopholes is very
> high on my list of things to work out.

I'm not sure that your system, as I understand it, is free of
loopholes.  Here is the system as you explained it.

>   1. Everyone has a lives attribute (starts at and is capped at
>   around 4, again choose for your MUD)

>   2. Every time you die you lose a life.

>   3. Every time you PK someone (or a group you are in PKs someone)
>   you lose a life.

>   4. If you are killed when your lives hit 0 then you are gone for
>   good.

Let's come up with an example.

I have a character, Bob, that has 4 lives.  Bob is a simple
adventurer, he's an explorer and during the first day he has
traveled 45 kilometers from his start location, the city of Paq, and
during his travels he's been PVE killed four times.  Bob is ok with
death and as a Ranger traveling alone he is used to losing his life
once or twice - especially with a brand new character.

So, Bob, having been killed four times, has zero lives left.  He
happens upon an Orc that is about his same skill level - and after
15 minutes of battle he manages to kill the Orc and finds a very
nice broad sword. He can't use the sword just yet because he needs
one more level, so he places the sword in his bag and continues on.

Over the next ridge, ArchBob is waiting. He's seen Bob make the kill
and decides that he wants the sword for himself (there has to be
some drama, right?).  Anyway, long story short, ArchBob kills Bob
and since Bob has zero lives left his character is permanently wiped
from the system.

ArchBob has been playing PVE but has not lost his life, he's read
all the websites and knows how to train his character to get the
maximum potential out of his character and since this was a PK he
loses only one life.

My point here, is that Bob, a casual player that enjoys battling the
environment is killed one too many times and is turned off by the
game.  He doesn't bother to create another character (if this is a
pay to play game, he would probably even cancel his account - so,
you've lost a paying customer). He never returns to the game, he
even tells all his buddies, who were thinking of playing, what
happened and each of them decide to find another game - that's a bad
thing (especially if it is a pay to play game).

The are numerous ways to die in a MUD or MMO - PVE, PVP, PK etc. and
each of these can have hidden exploits that have the potential to
destroy the players enjoyment of your game.  My suggestion would be
to look at altering the second point (Every time you die you lose a
life) and extend it to list the ways that you die and the penalties
that the character would take.  Something like:

2a. PVE death results in minus .25 points from the character.
2b. PVP death results in minus 1.0 points for the instigator if he
is killed and minus 0.5 points for the challenger if he is killed.
2c. PK death results in minus .5 points for the victim and minus 1.0
points for the criminal.

After five minutes that's what I came up with - and I'm sure that
loopholes/exploits would exist but it seems to be fairer, especially
if we use the same example from above.  Bob, after four PVE deaths
would have 3 life points remaining and when ArchBob PK's Bob, he
would have 3 life points remaining.

It is my opinion that for permadeath to exist in a MUD/MMO it should
have clearly defined rules that allows for it to happen - loopholes
and exploits are detrimental to the enjoyment of (paying customers)
players and every scenario should be explored before instituting
such a system.

All in all I enjoyed the read and am glad to see other's who have
the same thoughts/desires concerning death and aging.

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser
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