[MUD-Dev] Character Restraint & Capture.

[Damion Schubert]

And Jester Spoke:

> I've been mulling this one over for some time; I am considering
> implementing a system whereby a character can be restrained,
> and/or captured by other players. I fully understand that unless I
> get this 100% right it will be universally hated, so I thought I'd
> get the views of this list's members.

At least in the commercial games, pretty much any feature that
steals the ability of movement and decision making from the user is
going to cause ire and frustration.  Common examples also include:

  - Long stuns and paralyzes, such that Meridian and DAoC had.

  - Charm and Fear spells, where your character moves without you
  giving commands.  At launch, EQ had a charm spell monsters could
  cast on you which forced you to attack your party members, who'd
  then be forced to 'put you down'.  This is one of those things
  that was infuriating at the time, and absolutely hilarious in
  retrospect.

  - Blind, such as Meridian had.  Nothing like not being able to
  target or tell where you're hightailing off to.

A good rule of thumb is that any time a player can sit back from his
keyboard and say, "Well, now all I can do is sit here for 20 seconds
and watch my character die"... it probably needs to be toned down.

So all of these drove players nuts.  Does that mean don't do 'em?
Not really - more like 'exercise extreme caution'.  What will the
counters be?  Can any single individual do it, or does it require
teamwork?  What are the risks of pulling off a 'capture attempt'?

--d
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