[MUD-Dev] ghost mode (was Re: SW:G)

[Amanda Walker]

On Thursday, September 11, 2003, at 03:07  PM, Rayzam wrote:

> I do like your suggestions about ghosts, which involve more
> content generated through and via the ghost-system
> implementation. It's just that such an implementation doesn't do
> what was first requested: the ability to see the content in a game
> without interacting with it.

Sort of: I suggested a "ghost mode" as a way to allow people to see
content without using RPG combat xp as a gatekeeper.  I suggested
that interaction limits might be an acceptable way to make such a
mode unable to "achieve" anything directly.

What has been really interesting to me is that the bulk of responses
have fallen into one of two distinct categories: "yeah, that would
be cool" (sometimes with interesting speculation about how it could
be integrated into game mechanics) and "but that would spoil
everything!"

I thought about this for a bit over the weekend.

I wonder if this represents a difference in how people perceive the
purpose of an MMO environment.  I'm coming at it from a basically VR
perspective, with games being one of many things you can do within
an MMO environment.  That is, my default expectation is that the
environment's there to be explored and used, with gaming being one
of many potential uses.  This was my experience with text MUDs,
early VR experiments, and continues to be the case with the
graphical MMO "games" I find most engaging.  the "MU" or "MM" parts
are what is interesting to me, not the "D" or "RPG" parts :-).

However, I can understand that you can also look at MMORPGs as
extensions of videogames.  In most videogames, the entire point is
to score points and unlock new levels, powerups, etc--this has
remained unchanged since Space Invaders, and continues to be quite
popular.  I play a number of these games myself, and have great fun
with them.


Amanda Walker
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