[MUD-Dev2] [REPOST] [DESIGN] Simulation vs. Status Quo

[Matt Chatterley]

On 30/10/06, John Mauney <montyculligan at gmail.com> wrote:
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> ********************************************************************
> *  REPOST
> *
> * Original Poster:  John Mauney
> * montyculligan at gmail.com
> *
> * 2/23/2006 10:42 PM
> *
> ********************************************************************


[Snip whole post]

Apologies for snipping your whole (excellent) post, John, but I wanted to
write a short reply along similar lines, rather than dissect your penmanship
line by line!

I'm going to nab a bit of your wording (transient goals) and expand, using
one of my own ideas.

Without boring everybody too much with the theme (it's not well enough
thought out yet, anyway), I've had one particular setting in my head for
several years, but have not as yet managed to get it out satisfactorily. I
wrote several chapters of a book, which I have since shelved - I blundered
into the whole thing and ended up fairly well cornered, and unable to
express my ideas. I also had the distinct feeling they were "too big" to
trap in a few hundred pages. Later, I tried to make a Neverwinter Nights
module out of one particular story in the setting, but didn't get very far
(limited artistic capabilities and to be honest, limited free time).

Essentially, the setting is common "high fantasy" crossed with a bit of
horror - a medieval fantasy world with all the usual magical trappings,
which is composed of (apparently) two halves - light and dark. Mankind
inhabit the "light" part of the world, their settlements covering some of
it's land, along with the remaining encampments of the other (elder) races -
the dwarves, elves and such. The dark part is mysterious, inhabited by
"them", "they" and some "its" - dark, undead (or at least, apparently
unliving) creatures which, for as long as anyone can remember, have
constantly attacked the frontiers of man's land, trying to occupy the rest
of the world.

Swathes of no-mans-land exist between the two worlds, the borders where two
civilisations meet (and occasionally clash - sometimes one winning some
ground, sometimes the other) - notably, when the dark forces advance, even
the sun shies away from the lands in their possession, leaving the eternal
gloom of midnight hovering over them.

So, in this world, perhaps a MMORPG or similar could be built - but it would
be the transient elements, the fluidity of play that would be key -
territory could change hands, settlements could be built and destroyed, and
so forth. It seems (on the surface at least) to be a mammoth undertaking.

Some "goals" or "quests" would arise immediately from circumstance - e.g.
defend your village against invasion, join the army and travel to the
frontier to hold back the invaders when they come - or ally with the
mysterious "brotherhood of the sun" to try and get to the bottom of the
whole mess. But, could it be that this is too one-sided and/or too vague to
keep players entertained?

Do short-term (albeit static) goals give players the ability to achieve
short-term gratification while working towards long-term glory (on a ladder
with clearly denoted rungs - levels), which the majority really want? Does
that even matter?

I think in a fluid game world, I would want the majority of interactions to
be player-oriented - and for players to set quests for each other, but does
that require a huge playerbase?

Going to stop there, and think some more!


Cheers,

-- 

Matt Chatterley