[MUD-Dev] ghost mode

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Wed 10 Sep, Tess Lowe wrote:
> Dan Harman wrote:

>> Do you really even want what you are asking for, would it hold
>> your interest for more than a week? If not, then as a developer I
>> wouldn't choose to deploy resources in servicing your desire.

> I suspect I would switch between ghost mode and achiever mode as the
> mood took me. Eg, being able to 'piggyback' another character as
> described by John Buehler in his post, then doing the quest for
> myself.

I have always felt it would be nice if  muds had a trade-off between
character stealth and abilities. I.e. low level characters have high
stealth  and therefor can go to most place,  but they are limited in
what they can achieve.  As the character advances this ability wears
off  because it is replaced by the ability to handle the things that
are encountered. This way all players have access to most of the ga-
me. If you then add potential encounters that are impossible to win,
you even create a reason for low and high level players to cooperate
as even the strongest players  still need scouts  to study the area,
and to warn them of approaching dangers they must run away from.

> Personally though I'd rather 'achieve' for points and ranking
> positions and respect rather than to level up and access
> content. Why is there this assumption that everyone would leave
> after seeing all the content? Wouldn't achievers be as captivated by
> league tables as by levels? Levels always have a cap - league tables
> do not, unless you're number 1 at absolutely everything.

Levels  are a stick for achievers.  For explorers  they are merely a
way to determine what areas they can not yet visit. For killers they
are free risk assessment. For socialisers they are pretty much irre-
levant.  It seems to me that doing away with them and letting achie-
vers finding another way to measure progress would have little to no
detrimental and many potentially beneficial effects.
The same is true, I believe, for tying access to areas to levels. It
serves relatively little purpose except for achievers.  Having ghost
or other scout modes is only a potential problem in situations where
the game is set up  as a contest between groups.  If that contest is
absent, or limited in scope or area, then there is little reason not
to implement it.

>> I understand your reluctance to get onto a treadmill. I've stopped
>> playing MMOs myself because I've lost all tolerance too. I just
>> don't see any way of making a game compelling if you give the
>> players every facet of gameplay as soon as they instantiate the
>> character. Even single player games keep things back as a reward,
>> and they don't have anything like the content problems that MMOs
>> do!

> I'm not convinced by that. There are many types of game that make
> all content available at the start, particularly those involving
> PvP. Perhaps this is why FPShooters are incorporating ghost modes
> while MMORPGs generally are not, though I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy
> floating around and watching more in the latter.

Also  games that are primarily social have no such limitations.  The
holding things back  that is mentioned  is a left-over from dungeons
and dragons, but by no means a must for games. Even cooperative ones
like muds. You have to allow yourself to think outside the usal box-
es to work out a compelling game, but that is true regardless.

> I don't understand it when people say "You would quit after two
> weeks if there was no new content or you'd seen everything," because
> that patently isn't and wasn't true at all. Quite the reverse - new
> content can make me feel like a newbie again, which can be quite
> unpleasant.

Those are extreme explorers I suspect. They are as much alien to the
mindset of other extreme cases of Bartle's suits. An interesting ex-
ample can be found on Star Wars, where explorer/achievers frequently
run into socialisers and express a complete lack of understanding of
each other's favourite playing style.


marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
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