[MUD-Dev] XP as gift (was: Attractive Grouping)

[Eli Stevens (WG.c)]

John Buehler wrote:
> Eli Stevens writes:

>> A player's level becomes derived from how much XP they have from
>> other players.

> It sounds like an onerous duty over something that is critical to
> a contentious topic - experience.

...

> It would cause greater interaction between players, but it's not
> fun.

Add a rose/thorn button next to everyone's name.  Start everyone at
X roses per hour; keep a running tally and default the XP to the
ratio of that player's roses to the total roses.

In the default case, click "Okay" and it's done.

> With the item distribution thing that I was talking about, the
> idea was that the items are not critical to anyone, so whether
> they go to you or me is not really all that important.  We
> socialize because what we're doing (combat) involves socialization
> and the game interface gives us time to socialize as we fight.  We
> don't break socialization because I decided to go off and run a
> quest that's in another zone.  We stay together because the fight
> is here and because I'm not incentivized to pursue my own
> achievement goals elsewhere.  I may go off because I'm tired of
> fighting and want to try my hand at another type of entertainment,
> but I don't do it as a natural course of the game.

> So I vote against the idea because it's predicated in personal
> achievement (experience points).  But as an effort towards
> encouraging players to interact, good on ya, mate.

Don't focus on the "XP-as-measure-of-power" per se (yeah, I know
this directly contradicts the last of my quote above), but as
anything of value to the player.  The items you mention above
doesn't fit the bill because they aren't important.

The idea is to give a player a way to screw the other players in an
obvious but not fatal fashion.  Those that do get flagged as such,
and aren't ever grouped with again by those screwed.

"Ack, what an ugly goal!"

But look at the converse - players will also build a list of people
they can trust to not screw them.  As long as the feeling is mutual,
*blam* you have a social network.  Not just on the chat channels
either - in-game rewards depend on people you can trust.

I think that building those ties is worth the hassle.

Eli
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