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

[Ben Hawes]

brian at thyer.net wrote:

> Don't you run the risk of relative intelligence and problem
> solving skills here?  Certainly you see it in other games as well,
> games such as CoH where you can choose your powerset but
> everyone's powerset is the same, or Everquest where every Warrior
> is the same except for which skills he uses more often and which
> equipment he wields.  People who aren't as good won't do as well,
> and therefor won't enjoy the game.  Only I think you'll see it at
> more of an extremity because there's no standard of uniformity.
> Every problem is different....and with every character different
> as well you'll see people who aren't as equiped to deal who get
> frustrated.  Or maybe I'm not seeing some detail here?

But isn't that the point?

Some people aren't as good at some things than others. That's
life. I can't play racing games for toffee, but I can beat most of
my circle of friends in any strategy game you mention. Of course
some people won't be able to manage certain achievements - that's
why they're an achievement: "Something accomplished successfully,
especially by means of exertion, skill, practice, or perseverance."

The achievements are designed to measure player abilities. If a
player isn't good at playing your game, then, yes, maybe he won't
play it. But how is that different from any other game out there?

The trick is not to "equalise" the game world so everything can be
accomplished by players of any skill (which seems to be the tactic
taken by many), but to provide /different/ ways of advancing. I
recall an article discussing GTA3. The writer was surprised that his
girlfriend enjoyed the game so much - but on questioning, he found
she didn't even realise there were violent possibilities - she had
just been playing it as a fun driving/exploration game.

The toruble with XP, as has been said, is if you earn it for driving
and shooting (say), then even people who want to drive will go
around shooting if that offers better XP. It is variety, not
simplicity, that we need.

--
	"quantam sufficit"
[ cruise / casual-tempest.net / transference.org ]
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