[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Removing the almighty experience point...

[Caliban Darklock]

On 8/3/07, cruise <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote:
> Thus spake Caliban Darklock...
>
> > Imagine two tasks, task A and task B. Task A is sufficient to go from
> > level 1 to level 2. Task B is sufficient to go from level 2 to level
> > 3. Now imagine that I perform both tasks.
>
> I must be explaining this really badly.

No, you simply haven't grasped that "perform two tasks" is itself a single task.

> The whole point of the system is reward players for aiming high, and to
> grant them nothing for performing tasks beneath them.

But you're not rewarding them, you're punishing them. Each time I go
up a level, an entire stratum of gameplay becomes worthless to me. If
I do so by performing very difficult tasks, they don't count any more
than tasks at my level. A level 9 task is only a level 9 task when you
are level 9. If you're level 5, it's much harder than a level 5 task,
but it only counts as a level 5 task. If you're level 10, the level 9
task is every bit as worthless as a level 1 task.

> That overflow is exactly what this system is designed to prevent.

I understand that. You're telling me that if I accomplish a level 12
task at level 2, I don't deserve to get a level 12 benefit - I have to
take a level 2 benefit instead. You punish me for aiming high by not
compensating my greater effort to achieve a high-level task; you
punish me for aiming low by giving me nothing at all for my effort.
It's a cage without bars, but it's still a cage, and players will
detest it.