[MUD-Dev] Playing catch-up with levels

[cruise]

Steven King wrote:

> SWG's skill system is alot like this, except there is a cap on the
> number of skills you can advance and skills don't degrade if
> unused (unless you count selling skills back).  In that system,
> the game mechanic is visible to the player, which can be a driving
> factor: The player knows how much he needs for the next mark, then
> tries to achieve it.  It would be interesting to see how players
> would react if the mechanic was kept invisible (or at least
> transluscent).  Out of sight, out of mind.  Have fun, don't worry
> about how it works.  Your character will be more accurate the more
> he uses his sword, and will cause slightly more damage since he
> knows the best way to slice/jab/etc.

Exactly - by hiding all the numbers and calculations it makes it
/much/ harder to game the system, or just repeat the "best"
strategy.

> I would think, however, that some skills would require (or work in
> conjunction with) others, which would lend itself to a skill-tree.
> It would still be invisible, though, and the players could play
> without calculators.

But of course :P. My skill-tree is actually more of an
acyclic-graph, with learning progressing in both directions, and a
number of different roots at varying levels. Which is what I meant
when I said computers offer us more options - the feedback system
would be next-to-impossible in a pen and paper RPG.

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