[MUD-Dev] Character Restraint & Capture.

[Paul Schwanz]

cruise wrote:
> Jester wrote:

>> Character Restraint & Capture

>> 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.

> This was discussed recently on the Darkfall fora, and generally
> the idea was dismissed - while it may make for great overall
> gameplay, for the poor player who is captured, being forced to
> spend an hour or so staring at the screen doing nothing
> (especially if they are paying for their time online), it really
> stinks.

I think this will depend on your implementation.  I'm not familiar
with Darkfall, but I will agree that forcing players to stare at
their screen for extended periods of time is bad.  On the other had,
with an implementation where gameplay is more episodic in nature,
where the character persists after the player logs off, and where
the player can monitor the situation via email, browser, PDA, etc.,
I think character capture might make for great fun.

> From a role-playing perspective, there no reason a player cannot
> role-play being captured, if they want to stage a daring breakout
> or such - and this could be rewarded if RP'ing is a goal in your
> game. But forcing inactivity on players is never a good thing.

Personally, making up my own story from whole cloth with little
support from the game engine isn't my preference for entertainment.
Also, inactivity doesn't have to be the only option.  Helping to
plan your own prison break sounds like it could be both active and
fun to me.  In the end, it is very difficult to evaluate the success
of these types of mechanisms unless you know lots of other details
about the design.  Said another way, you need to design your game as
a whole, keeping in mind how every mechanism is likely to interact
with every other mechanism.

--Phin
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