[MUD-Dev] Homogeneity and choice (Was DESIGN: Why dopeople likeweather in MMORPGs?)

[Mike Rozak]

Adam M wrote:

>> The reason I'm making combat more detailed is because I want it
>> to be more fun.

> My point is that it says nothing about the key issue: HOW is it
> intended to make it "more fun"? Until you know that "how" you
> cannot even to begin to evaluate whether it's going to
> succeed. (you might substitute "why" if it makes more sense to
> you. Depends on interpretation).

> For isntance, I see a huge opportunity for games with "combat
> which is more fun because the greatly increased detail *makes it
> more challenging intellectually, and less dull and repetitive*".

  - Intellectually challenging to prepare for combat

  - Intellectually challenging while in combat... How much does your
  PC defend vs. attack. What body parts does your PC aim for. What
  body parts does your PC defend. Does your PC make a series of
  quick and relatively ineffictive attacks, or wait for the right
  moment to make a good one. (The waiting approach gets nicked if
  the PC's enemy attacks first, disrupting the PC's attack.)  NPC AI
  has all these choices too, and these will vary with the NPC, which
  means the PC needs to understand the NPC's combat tactics.

  - More possible outcomes... Most MMORPGs have hit - points that
  heal up VERY quickly to keep players from getting
  bored. Consequently, the results of combat are either a) the PC
  lives and is ready to fight again in 16.9 seconds (which is just
  enough time to grab the loot), or b) the PC dies and has to run
  their way back to their body (in WoW), etc.

In my case, the PC can be knocked out, can be bleeding and require
bandaging, can have their limb broken and require it be set, can
have their limb chopped off and require it be
magically/technologically reconstructed. And poisions and diseases
get even more interesting. PCs can also drop their weapon/shield and
have a NPC take it. They can even run out of arrows (a quaint notion
that modern MMORGs seem to ignore).

  - More exciting... playing a traditional MMORPGs is a matter of
  gaguing how fast your HP's are going down compared to your enemy's
  HP. You can guestimate how much damage your PC will need available
  to "run away". This is exciting in the same way that McDonald's
  Spicy Chiken Burgers are spicy; they're not.

NOTE: With such a combat system players won't be killing 10,000 orcs
in a day. The nature of gameplay changes.

>> If I weakened combat into just hit points, that would not only
>> make combat less fun, but would weaken other aspects of the
>> design

> leave me wondering if you have decided the why/how. If not, you
> are in danger of making design decisions that seem complementary
> to your existing design, because *superficially* they concur, but
> in fact at depth they conflict.

> Shrug. I feel a bit cheeky saying any of this, since I'm not a
> professional designer :).

I'm not a professional designer either. Most of my thinking on this
is intuition, but there are verbal reasons... One of the most
important is the injury model: If I build a fairly complex injury
model, there's a lot more I can do with it that's not related to
combat. In fact, the way the system is built, alchohol is a poison
whose effects gradually build as the poison makes its way into the
bloodstream (from the stomach), and then gradually disappear as the
body eliminates the poison.

Mike Rozak
http://www.mxac.com.au
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