[MUD-Dev] PVP and perma-death

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

HRose <hrose at tiscali.it> writes:
> Ola wrote:

>> Really? I'd rather have systems which allow a variety of play
>> styles and let the player tailor the in game situation to his
>> preferred playstyle.

> Well, you obviously don't know me but I'm one of those that
> doesn't believe in "playstyles" and "player types". Those are
> mystifications.

"play styles" do exist. Role play is a phenomenon that can be
obsevered in just about any recreational online communication
system. Twinking-oriented players also exist, and they tend to say
that they would quit the game if the design didn't allow them to do
their number optimization.

> Nothing exists before you create the game. The players play the
> game after it is created and finished. They react to it depending
> on what you offer.

They interpret it based on past experience, either with other
systems or the physical world. They put something into the
situation, they don't simply react to it.

> I don't give a damn of what a player wants to do before knowing
> and trying a game because he cannot know what the game has to
> offer before seeing it.

Well, you will at least need to understand what players are capable
of doing, if you want your game to be playable. That includes their
game playing competence and motivation...

> It's like making a movie asking the peoples what they want to see
> before going to the cinema. Peoples don't want to be satisified,
> they want to be surprised. Noone should expect something from a
> game before being in it.

Old movies are slow, because the audience weren't used to the
medium. If a movie diverge too much from what the audience already
know, then the audience will will fall out, loose the plot and
simply end up being bored and confused. That's why Hollywood movies
are rather dull in their expression, yet entertaining.

It seems like you are arguing for More Art, not a game with broad
appeal. That is good too, but it is not the same thing.

> The discovery of something new is way stronger than the discovery
> of what you expect. There was no playstyle or player type before
> the first game was created. Game "genres" didn't exist before the
> games themselves. We didn't have first person shooters before
> Wolfstein.

Ah well, there were 1st POV shooters before Wolfenstein... Anyway,
the first game that introduce something new tends to become a genre
on their own. The last genre I know of is God-games, established by
Populous. I can't really think of any new significant concepts in
games after that one...

> It's the designer that tells the player how to play through the
> game. Not the player that tell the designer what he wants to do.

Well. You may try to tell me, but I very seldom play a game the way
the designers "tell" me to play it. I leave that to the players who
lack imagination. I am primarily interested in the world and the
art, most game-mechanic designs are incredibly dull anyway. Sorry...

I never really understand why designers who primarily care about the
game want to design MUDs. MUDs are worlds with games as a
replacement for physics and cultural context, i.e. the game gives
action meaning.

Why design a MUD if you want a game? You have much more control in
stand-alone games. (single player or two player) .

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