[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[Dana V. Baldwin]

cruise wrote:

> To re-iterate, then: "How do we make players /want/ to fight
> monsters?"  Everything so far seems to suggest making combats more
> dynamic, allowing players (and mobs) to counter and
> counter-counter.

Well making it fun is a simple answer but difficult to do. Fun in
general implies not repetitive. I would also posit that it means
overcoming a challenge to some degree. If you're the fastest kid in
school, you probably find some fun in beating people at races. You
probably find that fun for some time but at some point it simply
becomes a matte of rote that you can beat everyone and once the
newness is gone, so is the fun. So it could be argued that
competition is a major contributor to fun, especially in the case of
games which are generally competitive.

Why do we play tabletop games? What makes those encounters so fun
that we keep coming back for more? Myself, I play for the thrill of
rolling a better number on the dice than my opponent, by outwitting
him and by winning. All of these are competitive based but even more
so they are fun because they actually involve a gamble and risk, I
might die. Not MMORPGlite die and respawn but DIE as in tear up
character sheet start over. If we can find away to introduce this
level of excitement into the competitions we ask our players to
undertake we can heighten the desire for them to pursue these
encounters. Similarly we need to do a much better job at getting rid
of the mundane combats. A few great stories are better than a book
filled with endless drivel.

Ok so I defined the problem a little in my mind; the answers are
still looking to be found.
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