[MUD-Dev] Alternative team based approaches to game-play

[ceo]

olag at ifi.uio.no wrote:

> Do we need the mechanics of the RPG paradigm? Does it support team
> play better than a more homogenous approach?

I'm not sure what's wrong with the existing designs of the MMORPG's.

> Consequences:

>   - you can quickly assemble a group

Check. Most people want to be in any group so they can actually dare
to fight bosses with good drops.

>   - players have to shift gears (fight or heal mode) during a
>   fight

Check. The standard tactics of group combat in these games (aggro,
each monster grossly outpowers each player if solo, etc) force this
often.

>   - players cannot act selfishly (no self-heal)

Check. Common to have classes that cannot heal at all (to all
intents and purposes) in a major nasty combat, and those that can
are too weak to survive on their own so absolutely must keep the
non-healers alive or they die themselves seconds afterwards.

>   - if players don't look after each single individual then the
>   entire team goes down (a char with low hp receive more severe
>   blows which affect team hp)

Check. Lost any key member of the team and the remaining people are
so unbalanced due to racial or professional etc choices that they'll
die quickly.

> What are the problems with this approach? (well, except the
> identity issues)

So...what, *exactly*, is wrong with the status quo from those games
(which is pretty easy to appropriate) that you're hoping to improve
upon here?

Adam M
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