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

[Scion Altera]

Tuesday, September 16, 2003, 6:21:41 PM, Rayzam wrote:

> That's pretty much what I've been saying: at some point they'll be
> converted to numbers anyways. Why not just give the players the
> ordered scale of descriptions. That way they don't have to go to
> the effort.

The point here is measureability. Some things in real life are
measureable and we have concrete numbers for them. I can easily find
out how many pounds my knife weighs, or how long it is. I can also
find out the tensile strength of the metal the blade is made out of.
Off the top of my head, I don't know a unit of measure for exactly
how sharp it is, but there probably is one.

So in a hypothetical stereotypical fantasy setting, how would people
compare swords? The longer of two swords might weigh the same as 40
gold pieces. The shorter might only weigh the same as 32 gold
pieces.  The longer might be as long as my leg, while the shorter is
as long as my friend's arm. How sharp are they? Well the long one
can easily cut through a goblin's skull in one strike, while the
shorter one takes a few whacks to do the job.

In terms of game mechanics, what does this example mean? The game
could give the player the numbers for the weight, and length of the
swords. It could tell them that the swords are both made of steel.
However, the game might not tell them the value of the "sharpness"
attribute of the swords beyond saying that one is "very sharp" and
the other is "dull" because sharpness is not measureable to a very
granular level.

Perhaps a game could hide all the unknown numbers from the player
until they are measured. Only numbers that can be measured can be
discovered. A player with a mystical, one of a kind tool for
measuring the damage roll of an item could make a fortune in that
economy... the analogy being that I don't know the horsepower of
your car until I hitch it up to a bunch of horses and play a little
tug-of-war. I wonder if this could be used to build a 'scientist'
profession in a game.

  Scion

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