[MUD-Dev2] What is agame?(again)was:[Excellentcommentary onVanguard's diplomacy system]

[cruise]

Thus spake John Buehler...
> I agree that it's an improvement.  I'm a big believer in using NPCs to
> provide a game context.  I just think that NPCs work best for players who
> want to play the game the publisher's way.  Those who are bored or malicious
> quickly turn to doing things that are annoying to other players, despite the
> efforts of the NPCs to discourage them.  So I don't see NPC discouragement
> as a sufficient disincentive.  Is it a disincentive?  Yes.  Will it limit
> disruptive play?  Yes.  It suffers from being difficult/expensive to
> implement.

Having the town guards physically throw your chracter out of town every 
time you try it would be a pretty good deterrent. Or imprisonment (which 
has been discussed before) - being unable to play the character for a 
time makes such disruption very inefficient from a time point of view.

So, maybe they can run away from the gaurds when they see them coming. 
Now they're playing your game again - can they escape from the guards? 
Will other players help by blocking their escape route, casting slows or 
immobs? You've turned disruptive gameplay into something actually quite 
appropriate, just by having the NPCs respond appropriately.

I'm reminded of Chris Crawford's definition of interaction as a 
conversation.

- A speaks, B listens
- B process A's communication and formulates a response.
- B speaks, A listens
- etc.

A is the player, and B is the computer. Player actions are step 1, NPC 
responses are 2 and 3. We have a decided lack in step 2 - the game does 
not understand most of what the player says. The more we improve step 2, 
the better the overall "conversation" the player experiences.

> I'm just all becited about private instances for like-minded players.  It's
> simple and it addresses all these issues very neatly.  I'd still like to see
> the NPC context, but that's about artificial intelligence and rules and
> such.  It's a high end feature.  Like multiplayer world physics.

Well, yes, it is harder. But arguably better. To abuse the conversation 
metaphor a little, your suggestion is to put all same-language speakers 
together. Mine is to provide some translators...