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

[Vincent Archer]

According to Adam Burr:
> On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:43:53 +0200, Vincent Archer
> <archer at frmug.org> wrote:

>> Achievements are used to measure your prowess, game knowledge,
>> mastery of your class, interaction with other players, whatever.
>> Each achievement is individual and unique. A repeat of the exact
>> same circumstances means nothing.

> This is what really makes it different from an XP system, it seems
> to me. Otherwise what you describe is also accomplished by having
> monsters/activities go "grey"- where you get no XP for killing or
> doing them. Thus they need to find a new "achievement"- level
> appropriate mobs..

Yes.

The initial proposal came from the discussion around the evils of
"grinding", in the context of World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft
does a wonderful job of placing lots of quests. Every mob I killed
in World of Warcraft (during the stress test, alas, I didn't get a
beta slot), either:

  - was the target of a quest (kill N of this, or collect M from
  these)

  - was aggressive and in the way to get to a spot or another mob

  - attacked me first

That's all. I always had a good reason to kill them.

However, doing quests was not the best and fastest way to gain
level.  During the time it took to run from quest spot to quest
giver, and back, you could earn as much, if not more, xp, by sitting
at a suitable spot, and repeatedly killing mobs. Each 2 levels, you
get to your trainer, get new spells/abilities, then go to the next
levelling spot.

In other words, "grinding" xp.

>> That kind of achievement-based system behaves very differently
>> from an XP-based levelling system. It rewards real world
>> knowledge and skill, notably. An experienced player can roll a
>> new character, and very quickly "level", by simply running to
>> various places he already knows, and reproducing feats he's
>> already seen by other players he grouped with.

> That's kind of true in an XP system, just in that you know where
> the level appropriate mobs are... but it does seem to be more so
> in your system.

The purpose of the newbie levels are usually the same: introduce a
player to the game, the commands, and his abilities. If the player
does know this, why not let it skim over these, at least until he
gets to a point where he (the player) is learning how to use some
abilities that he (the character) never used before.

That's a bit like DAoC's /level command, where once you have
demonstrated you know the game (by reaching 50), you're allowed to
skip the initial parts of the game which you already know.

Except that, this way, the game ensures you really did learn them,
by asking you to prove you remember your lessons :)

> That all said, I really like this idea. Actually, I wonder (having
> quit before I could see it) if this is at all similar to the
> Trials in the DAoC expansion?

The Masters Levels? They're a bit like that. And it's also a bit
like Everquest's "flagging", which ties access to content (zones) by
feats (succeeding in specific raids).

However, Master levels are really linear and restricted. Each Master
level requires all the previous ones to unlock.

--
	Vincent Archer			Email:	archer at frmug.org

All men are mortal.  Socrates was mortal.  Therefore, all men are Socrates.
							(Woody Allen)
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