[MUD-Dev] Time debt

[Stephen McDonald]

The current discussion about socializing, downtime, level grind, and
campin= g leads me to bring up an idea I've been playing with in my
head for a little while.  I hope it may solve some problems that
people see, or at the least put a completely different face on
things.  The idea is composed of two propositions:

  1) Move boring, repetitive, and time-consuming activity to
  off-line time, when the player is not logged in to the game.

  2) Have most or all skill improvement come from practice and
  training, which occurs during off-line time.

This could be implemented by creating a "time debt".  A person
wishes to craft a leather hauberk.  He gathers his materials and
tools, then starts working.  In reality, this should take, say, 10
hours (completely arbitrary number plucked from thin air).  In the
game, it takes 10 seconds (or 1 minute, or some other short time),
but the character incurs a 10 hour time debt.  If the player logs
off for 10 hours, his time debt is paid off.  This can work for
almost any kind of time-consuming activity--crafting, training,
harvesting a field, studying a new spell, repairing equipment, long
distance travel.

Working with this concept requires a rather non-linear treatment of
time.  In essence, you can pretend that it really does take one day
to ride to the distant city, but it all takes place "off stage" or
"during commercial break".  The players get to participate in the
activities they are actually interested in quickly, while still
having to pay the "time" it should require.  It will prevent a
crafter from flooding the market with hundreds of swords crafted
instantaneously, because the time debt is prohibitive.  The number
of spells cast by a mage could be limited by having mana/aura/energy
regain at the expense of a time debt.  Accruing time debt can be
limited by either setting an upper limit on the debt a character can
take on, or by imposing increasing penalties for high time debt.

The second proposition removes the experience gain motivation for
camping.  The level grind is moved behind the curtains, allowing
players to do things they actually think are fun or advance their
personal goals.  People can still quest for adventure, treasure, or
other reasons, or they can sit around the tavern telling tall tales
or entertaining the guests.  There is less pressure to be
"efficient", at least during the time the player is logged in.  A
player can still be go-go-go if he wants to, but he needn't feel
that he is falling behind in experience if he wanders the town
window shopping, or attending a party.  The efficient player can
decide before he goes to sleep how much time debt he can afford to
put into training, and have it done without interfering with the the
more fun aspects of the game.

There are some other side effects of this idea.  It permits projects
that require enormous amounts of time and energy.  A tradesman could
hire a skilled mason and 10 unskilled workers to build a new shop.
Each of the hired men commits 10 hours (or whatever) time debt to
the project, and the trader moves into his new shop.  The evil snake
cult discovers an ancient ritual which grants great power to the
high priest.  Over the course of a month, members commit 300 hours
time debt gathering rare ingredients (after figuring out where they
can be found), the high priest commits 100 hours to interpreting the
ancient texts, and on the night of the blood moon, two dozen
acolytes commit 10 hours each to chanting while the high priest
performs the ceremony.

This may make crafting a more useful occupation.  Markets will not
be flooded with materials created during training.  It also puts a
real value on crafted products, beyond the cost of materials.  The
act of crafting requires a real cost, the time debt, which should
permit crafters to sell their goods at reasonable values.
Similarly, services should gain a real value.  An armorsmith is more
likely to charge (and more likely to be paid) for repairing armor if
it requires a 4 hour time debt than if it only takes a few seconds
in-game.

With some additional software support, time debt can also create
jobs in the game.  Running a shop might require a certain number of
man-hours of staffing.  The shop owner can hire several people as
clerks.  As long as the clerks regularly put in their hours, they
get paid and the shop runs smoothly.  Perhaps an automatic contract
system could be devised to automatically apply time debt and move
money between accounts, until someone ends the contract.  Castles
could require guards, cooks, and maintenance by armorers and masons.
Farmers can hire workers for the harvest season.  Characters can
have paying jobs, and still use their on-line time for the fun
things.

I have not worked out an actual implementation of all this.  Getting
this to work right would require a tremendous amount of work,
especially balancing the debts for different kinds of activities.  I
know it won't solve all the problems of socialization or level
grind.  Some people will certainly still want to optimize their
skill gain by figuring out how best to apply their time debt, but it
will at least allow them to do other things as well, including
socializing, without greatly affecting their grind.  In addition,
the options of gaining and holding an off-line job, large-scale
projects, and providing crafts and services may increase character
interaction.  I look forward to all your opinions on this idea.  I
would love to actually try writing this someday, but I suspect I
never will have the time.  Perhaps someone else can.

					Steve McDonald
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