[MUD-Dev] Playing catch-up with levels

[cruise]

John Buehler wrote:

> I believe that such a system still wants the archetype as a
> starting point.  Players would take one look at the skill tree and
> uninstall the program.  So templates for fighters, blacksmiths,
> politicians, etc., would all want to be the first line of exposure
> - and a way of talking about what sorts of things go on in the
> game world.  Fooling with the whole skill tree would come later.

It can be argued (and indeed, I do) that having to pick your skills
is a large part of the problem.

Compare a simple list of all the skills availabe in (say) D&D, with
the neat "packages" of skills that can be summed up in a few
sentences.

In the more "freeform" CRPG's I've often picked skills that
"sounded" cool, and then later found they'd been implemented in a
different way than I hoped, or whatever, and had to restart.

Several games, with more on the horizon, are offering the much
simpler "use it or lose it" skill system - what you use improves,
what you don't degrades.

So if you find the longsword isn't working for you, just pick up a
shortsword and wave it around, and gradually your skills will
change.

This also fits better with useability ideas (ie. the best interface
is never seen) - players don't even have to know what skills are
coded in, and what the numbers are. They just wander around, doing
what happens to take their fancy, and those things they particularly
like, they improve at.

No classes, no complicated skill-trees to scare off newbies. Provide
a few templates or sets of starting equipment for those who need
some guidance, perhaps.

--
[ cruise / casual-tempest.net / transference.org ]
   "quantam sufficit"
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