[MUD-Dev] PVP and perma-death

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

"Steven King" <steve at madrogue.com> writes:

> On PvP: I play/played a MUD where all hostile actions against
> another player required a 500-word email explaining the situation.
> You were tagged by the system with a PvP ID number when you killed
> or assisted in killing another player.  If the system did not
> receive the email within a time period, you were not allowed to
> gain experience and the penalties accrued from there, since the
> admin monitor things closely.  That was quite enough to keep PvP
> actions low, and even then they were always warranted and
> in-character.  Of course, to gain experience after each level, you
> also had to write a long essay on why you should be allowed to
> gain more experience, so I always thought the admin just like
> reading.

Actually, that is an interesting idea for a role-playing
environment. At least if you wrap it up in the fictional world
somehow. E.g: you have to apply to some school master to receive
more training. If you mandate that the essay is in-character, and
only accept those which are in line with the character description,
then you probably could discourage some non-roleplayers from
playing... while still having fun game mechanics. You could do the
same for the PvP: after killing another "hero" (Player Character
which is under some God's protection) you need to explain your
actions to the God you worship through a long prayer. If you are
unable to please the God the you will be be punished.

This is quite in line with what I suggested: if your game design
attract play styles which you don't want to cater for, then
introduce thresholds or locks which makes remaining in the game less
attractive for that subset of the population. Roleplayers would
probably find it fun to write such "letters", at least if they get
some kind of entertaining response (written by other roleplayers,
obviously).

Thank you!

--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/
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