[MUD-Dev] Reward system for social gaming?

[Sean Howard]

"Scott Jennings" <scottj at mythicentertainment.com> wrote:

> Wow, a virtual concentration camp. That sounds horrible. It's a
> shame lowbie areas like the Barrens aren't PvP-off even on PvP
> servers, and that players aren't penalized for killing important
> NPCs in those zones.

> Oh, wait. They ARE PvP- (unless the poor oppressed Horde in this
> example attack first) and the NPCs DO penalize their attacker.

First, WoW may have been a bad example. Something like EVE Online
might be better. I do remember that when Lineage II first came out,
there were Chinese gold farmers on scripts which literally claimed
the outdoors and anyone that walked too close would be attacked and
killed. I think they eventually fixed it, but not before many
players left the game in disguest.

Heck, I should've just linked to that EVE Online article from the UK
PC Gamer. Nuff said: http://www.mmodig.com/?p=155

Also, you are assuming that only in-game rewards count towards a
player's satisfaction. If a virtual Napoleon decided to take over an
entire server as Alliance only, just because he could, the minute
penalties wouldn't be enough - especially if coordinated (ie squads
which accept the dirty jobs for the coordinators who keep their hand
clean). You could just have a level 60 guy follow people around the
barrens and kill off quest creatures before the newbies - how hard
would it be to get 8 feathers if the creatures that drop them are
essentially extinct? It wouldn't take much for a small group of
level 60s to keep the barrens empty of life.

It wouldn't be easy, and would require intense coordination -
especially given the psychological requirements of dominating an
entire server.  Anyway, even if you couldn't stop them from getting
to level 16, you could stop them from getting to level 40, and you
could certainly make their life miserable until then.

> Otherwise you are able to do what I sometimes did in Tradewars
> 2002 - post unbelievable numbers of fighters in every sector
> leading out of the 10 or so "Fedspace" sectors, making the game
> completely unplayable for new players. (Although they could read
> the mocking messages I left, stating that I had renamed the game
> "Tradewars 10".)

So... you took offense to my specific usage of WoW, not the basic
message behind it? Heck, it looks like you are proud of that kind of
behavior. I rest my case.

- Sean
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