[MUD-Dev] MMO Quest: Why they're still lousy

[Vincent Archer]

According to Sporky McBeard:
> "Michael Hartman" <michael at thresholdrpg.com> wrote:
>> Sporky McBeard wrote:

>>>  5) Allow certain players to create their own dungeons - I
>>>  promise you that players are far more creative than most
>>>  MMORPGs give them credit for.

>> I can assure you that the majority of players are LESS creative
>> than you think and will create such inane filth that it will
>> actually cheapen your game and damage your gaming environment.

> Actually, the solution to that is fairly simple. At low levels,
> make the changes possible to a dungeon very strict. For instance,
> you can only have five rooms and can only place monsters of level
> 5 - 7 (perhaps other players capture and train the monsters?) in
> specific slots around the level.  Slowly introduce the players to
> new elements as they get used to the old ones. I see no reason why
> even the most uncreative player couldn't create a decent modular
> dungeon, given enough direction and plenty of explicit
> boundaries. I guess what I'm saying is, make it difficult to screw
> up.

If the archives were back up, I would probably be able to give
pointers. Anyway, in april 2003, I was advocating a concept of
"Dungeon Keeper Online". Essentially, you would be able to create a
Dungeon Keeper character, and design using in-game tools dungeons
for the adventurers.

The most succesful dungeons keepers get "experience", which increase
their abilities (larger dungeon areas, more mobs, more items, more
intricate triggers). Success being measured as a combination of
popularity, difficulty (roughly: how often do people die in your
dungeon) and good reward (how many of your items are in use, for
example).

The trick is, this kind of darwinian dungeon evolution does happen.
In NWN. But it happens out-of-game, not in-game, as there's no
unified world; NWN is not a MMO.

Now let me win the euro-lotto for 30 million euros, and I'll make
that game!

--
	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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