[MUD-Dev] Removing the almighty experience point...

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

Vincent Archer <archer at frmug.org> writes:

> For example, killing one mob of level N is a level N achievement
> (however, killing another is not, of course). Visiting a point of
> interest in game that is guarded by hostile level X mobs is an
> achievement of level X. Keeping under control 3 mobs while a 4th
> is fought by your group is a level Z achievement. Defeating the
> boss of Dungeon Y is another achievement. Using "correctly" a
> skill you can gain at level W is itself an achievement of level
> W. And so on.

> The idea is that, if your character is level 20, then by
> definition, you (the player) have a good knowledge of the game
> world and/or a good equipment and/or a knowledge of your class
> abilities and/or experience (in the real world sense) of playing
> in a group in some challenging situations.

How is this different from not having levels at all? It seems to me
you achieve the same with having a vast range of monsters of
"fictionally consistent" difficulty that drop various weapons that
provide status, and also have NPCs that you award you with various
types of armour according to your deeds.

In a sense, existing games already provide this type of gameplay (if
they don't have level caps on non-transferable items).

It is probably also difficult to balance if you allow grouped level
gain without having level loss... Players hate level loss. It is
also becomes tricky to deal with mixed teams which is a necessity if
you want RL friends to team up.

The most problematic about such approaches is that you risk having
sessions with no feeling of progress. Levels are rewards, not just
content locks. You really want the player to feel that he is about
to get somewhere in each and every play session.

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