[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Rewards

[Caliban Darklock]

On 4/10/07, cruise <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote:
>
> Which leads me to the conclusion that in a multiplayer game, rewards
> should be minimal, if existant. They certainly should not involve an
> increase in power, since that will only worsen the competetive streak.

That seems like a shortsighted conclusion.

I think it has to go beyond that and say that nothing the player does
can affect the game world more than locally and temporarily. So
temporarily, in fact, that it has virtually zero effect on other
players. Because if you can create an effect, you can attach a value
to it - knocking over garbage is bad, breaking windows is good - and
players will naturally do so in the search for meaning.

But by taking the increase in power out of the game, you also place
the relative power in the hands of the players. Your improvement in
the game depends on your improvement as a player, or your acquisition
of local hardware. This exacerbates the "how does one kill that which
has no life" phenomenon.

I think the conclusion here has to be different for different games.
It's a system; when one things changes, other things need to change
with it.