[MUD-Dev2] Importance of emoting (Was: A rant againstVanguardreviews and rants)

[Michael Hartman]

Raph Koster wrote:
> As an example: A lot of hay was made about the notion that entertainers
> should have been giving positive effects rather than healing negative
> effects. But stuff like that ignores that *to players there is no
> difference.* To them, there is "be at max power" and "not be at max
> power." Making it a step you did before combat versus after was really
> irrelevant. The fundamental principle is the same: another player is
> needed to get you to fighting trim. So focusing on whether cantinas and
> battle fatigue were a punishment or not misses the psychological point.
> Being "forced to buff" feels exactly the same.

I am not sure I agree with this. I agree that functionally, from a code
standpoint and from a downtime standpoint, this is true. But
psychologically for the player I think this is different.

Assume a player in neutral state can deliver 100 dps (damage per
second).

If he gets a buff, he can raise that to 110 dps.

If he gets a debuff, his dps is lowered to 90 dps.

Being debuffed is going to irritate that player a LOT more than not
having the buff, and he is far more likely to go without the buff than
he is to run around playing with the debuff. In fact, you could change
the buff state to 120 and the debuff state to 95 and you will still see
the player far more concerned with getting rid of the debuff. 

Some of this is pure psychology and some of this is game mechanics.
Since games are generally balanced to expect you to fight things of a
certain difficulty, if you are debuffed (and have to fight weaker
things) you will generally suffer quite seriously in xp and loot you can
find.