[MUD-Dev2] Risk vs Reward [was: Value]

[cruise]

Thus spake Sean Howard...
> Seriously, would World of Warcraft be worse off if the instance dungeons
> scaled to the level of the party such that a single healer could find it
> just as challenging and rewarding as a group of 47 mages? People have
> gotten it into their head that when a group of players can't do content,
> it's their fault for not being good enough. I blame that retarded "risk
> equals reward" bumper sticker crap, where people have somehow mistaken
> reward to mean "advantage".

I've never been entirely sure what the "risk" is meant to be either.

"Risk vs Reward" seems a sensible mantra to guide your content balance, 
but you really need a clear idea of what players will be "risking" and 
what their "reward" is.

"Risk" is presumably risk of defeat in combat - but what then are you 
actually risking? You waste some time getting back to your corpse from 
the cleric/hospital/graveyard/whatever. Maybe some more time from lost 
XP if any is. Really, are players risking anything but time? What else 
can players actually risk in a virtual world? Equipment? Unless you have 
actual unique equipment, then it's just more time to replace it. The 
only other valuable resource I can think of is repuation - maybe have 
"deaths" (or failed quests) visible in some way to other players.

"Reward" is equally nebulous. XP is presumably the reward. Or equipment. 
Which as Sean said, is basically "advantage." New skills, skill 
improvements or anything else along those lines is much the same. Again, 
the only distinctly different reward would be reputation, seperate from 
actual character strength. Indeed, having achieved certain things at a 
low strength would probably be considered a good thing.

Which has just connected with another thought in my head. While looking 
up some stuff on Final Fantasy 7 (yeah, yeah, I've still not finished 
it. I'm a busy person... :) I noticed there were lots of guides to 
"challenges" - materia only, physical attacks only, weapon-skill only, 
etc. etc.

Has any MMO ever considered the ability for players to deliberately 
handicap themselves in some way? Or at least to not advance? What sort 
of social environment could we create if we recorded achievements not 
levels, and players could vary the challenge:

"I beat Aeiou the Vowelbeast with only starting equipment."
"Well I beat him with starting equipment and no magic."
"I used no equipment and only fire magic."

etc.

Yes, okay, it's all male-centric ego stroking again, but it doesn't have 
to be, depending on how it's approached.

Making each "challenge" single attempt only, say, would also add a nice 
element of risk, and leave the balancing up to the individual player/group.