[MUD-Dev] DGN: Why give the players all the numbers?

[Rayzam]

From: "Chanur Silvarian" <chanur at guildsite.com>

> I would assert that the player doesn't need to know any of these
> things and that they are only a hold-over from a medium in which
> there was no way to hide them (pencil and paper).  The only reason
> the numbers exist is because in the beginning these types of games
> were played manually, with dice.  When a player (or GM) has to
> manually roll the numbers then they must know what the numbers are,
> but as soon as there was a mechanism for automatically making to hit
> rolls and damage rolls then there is no more reason for the player
> to know the numbers.

> Most metrics are completely unnecessary for gameplay and end up
> being the source of endless complaints by players, reviews by
> developers, and generally an all around headache.  What I mean is
> that player X sends in logs to prove why player Y is overpowered and
> player Y does the same to prove player X is overpowered, everyone
> gets unhappy... the players are unhappy, the support team is
> unhappy, the devs are unhappy... It is a mess over something that
> the players didn't need to know in the first place and would have
> more fun if they didn't know (because they wouldn't be involved in
> said unhappiness).

> If the numbers were taken away, all four bartle types would still
> find a way to play... achievers would still try to get more gold,
> better items, and win in combat.  Explorers would explore the world,
> test items and skills to see what they do, and generally try to
> puzzle out all of the numbers that you no longer give them for
> free. Socializers would socialize, and killers can always kill.
> With no metrics given, there is no more drive for the other types to
> try to keep up with the achievers so long as they have enough gold
> or whatnot to be comfortable.

> The major restricting factor to complete removal of numbers from
> these games is simple resistance to change on the part of everyone
> involved; devs, publishers, players, et al.  Nobody even considers
> removing the numbers altogether because of a prevailing "everyone
> else has them, we can't just remove them" mentality.

> I know that I'm a radical in thinking it, but I believe that
> complete removal of all numbers (except how much item X costs) would
> go a long way to improving immersion in anything calling itself an
> RPG and would stop a lot of the customer complaints about how they
> can't optimize themself to be as good or better than someone else.

Actually, removing all ways of ranking things leads to more
complaints and common myths. Use descriptions and you often get a
stepwise function of the descriptives: Infinite, Huge, Large,
Medium, Small, Tiny, Infinitesimal.  However, many of the numbers
[behind the scenes] are more continuous. So something that advances
the numbers within a range appears to do nothing when the player
sees it. Of course this is dependent on the resolution of the
numberless system. However when there's one descriptive for each
number, you've got a numbered system anyways.

Empirically, this results in having lots of complaints about things
not working. It also leads to 'common knowledge' myths about what
something does or doesn't do, or how useless an item/skill/power is.

And finally, the best reason for having numbers is for player
advancement. Players need to feel they're advancing, you need to
give them rewards. Smaller rewards are better because you can give
them more often, increasing player retention. However, the player
has to be able to see the reward for it to be a reward. Hence, the
size of the reward needs to be at least the size of a single visible
step change. With player stats or exp, it's best to just use the
numbers. Otherwise, in a continuing game with many [and increasing
maxes across expansion packs] levels, the players won't see each
baby carrot, or else the carrots are too large and players get too
powerful too soon.

    rayzam
    www.travellingbard.com
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