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

[olag at ifi.uio.no]

Johan A:
> olag at ifi.uio.no wrote:

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

> EQ2 has its Group XP debt. Instead of people looking out for
> eachother, people are now very reluctant to group with people they
> don't know.  Unexperienced MMO players are already reluctant to
> group and adding things like this only makes it worse when they
> receive alot of abuse for messing up and causing harm to the
> entire group.

I didn't know about the group xp debt, so that was rather
interesting. How does it work?

Wonder why they added that. Have the designers explained why?

> As for only being disabled when your HP bar reach zero when near a
> team mate, I personaly is not too keen on this. I beleive there
> should be penalties for dieing. UOX had a similar I think where
> you only were dissabled and got to keep your buffs and all.

Yes, I agree that you should receive penalties for dieing, but let's
consider some basic team-design requirements first:

  1. Encourage teaming. Joining a team shouldn't be a risk
  factor. Basically this means that you shouldn't loose more than
  you gained from working in a team unless it is entirely your own
  fault. E.g. XP loss is ok, but you shouldn't loose XP you gained
  before joining the team.

  2. Inclusive team design. Causual players have enough obstacles,
  so the team's progress shouldn't be significantly hampered by a
  single player.  And one should try to avoid situations where a
  single invidiual is being picked on.

  3. Team learning. The less knowledgable team members should be
  allowed to learn from their experiences. Meaning, if a single
  individual falls out then he should be able get back in quickly.

  4. Team unity. One for all, and all for one. Teams that take on a
  group identity are more rewarding. The design shouldn't encourage
  team members to go "solo".

I could go on... :)

Anyway, all this 4 points suggests that the player should not be
removed and experience a full death if he is still playing with the
team.

  1. He shouldn't die just because the other team members didn't
  heal him.

  2. If he is less experienced then he shouldn't significantly keep
  the team from having decent progress.

  3. If he is less experienced then he needs to learn faster than
  the other players.

  4. The other team members should realize that if they don't take
  care of all individuals then the team will go down real fast. And
  they should be co-present until they disband.

So, yes, it is counter-intuitive that he stays alive, but changing
this in favour of physical world realism or RPG-expectations provide
more disadvantages than advantages.

Ola.
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