[MUD-Dev2] [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs

[Lachek Butalek]

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*  REPOST
*
* Original Poster:  Lachek Butalek
* lachek at gmail.com
*
* 2/3/2006 10:21 AM
*
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I was about to send the list some interesting links about instancing
when I realized that most/all of my MMO commentaries preach realism as a
way to fix a multitude of problems. After all, we have a pretty good,
well established simulation environment of what a virtual worlds should
act like - the real world. My theory is that as long as we aim towards
absolute realism, our virtual worlds will not be afflicted with symptoms
caused by artificiality. In the case of instancing, my commentary was to
be that instancing is a cop-out - a slick cheat around the complicated
problem of limited resources and game content - and that there are other
ways of dealing with such problems without cheating. It appears (from
the articles) that Vanguard will be implementing some realism-based
solutions to alleviate the problems of not instancing. One example is
the roaming "boss" monsters - no more camping a single spot for the boss
monster to spawn, because the spawn point is random and the boss roams
around the world when present in the game. This is a step in the right
direction, IMHO.

My solution to the problem above would be to make player characters so
utterly powerless against a "boss" monster that they would be more
likely to flee from the spawn point than camp there. After all, this is
a "boss" monster - why should a single character or small group be
powerful enough to not merely easily destroy it, but be so confident
that individuals and groups compete for the pleasure? Defeating a
city-pillaging, maiden-kidnapping, countryside-ravaging beast should not
be something you and your buds do on a lark, or to get phat drops. It
should require communal efforts between multiple villages or towns,
governmental/military involvment, logistics, support from a deity or
perhaps a mage's council, etc - or be the result of some
earth-shattering, epic, DM-led plot featuring a group of protagonists
central to the game world's storyline. Anything less and the reputation
of Hzzarath, Lord of the Fiery Pits of Doom will be seriously
questioned.

What is inherently wrong with making player characters more vulnerable
and helpless? Will it make the game less fun to play if you don't score
a magical weapon after 30 minutes of play? Will it somehow break the
fantasy genre mold to have the protagonists be any less than almighty? I
seriously doubt it. In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship was
made up by the creme de la creme Middle Earth had to offer (and a few
hungry Hobbits, too). Even so, Boromir - one of the most mighty fighters
- was slain by some orcs by the end of the first book (and he couldn't
even run back to his corpse to resurrect!). Orcs, you say? Why, they
only have rusty short swords, causing 6 points of damage at best - and
with my Fighter's armour class and damage reduction, they would have a
hard time hitting me, much less cause any damage! The only reason I kill
them is because their presence in number is a little too taxing for my
video card to handle - or I'd just let them be!

The traditional fantasy MMO/MUD suffers from inflation from the moment
it goes into public beta - possibly before. In a tabletop session of
D&D, the player characters are protagonists, with special abilities and
skills that sets them apart from the common rabble. They are likely some
of the most talented, skilled and all around powerful people in their
corner of the world - or they will be right after they reappear from the
newbie dungeon. The problem with MMO/MUDs is that there are literally
thousands of these Nietzchean Ubermensch in the same province or even
city, which is a major game balance and realism problem even before you
start taking mudflation into account.

So if you're looking to alleviate this problem, what do you do? How
would you cripple player characters in a way that still enables them to
play the game - not just sit around waiting to be eaten by the next
major foozle to come around? Again, look towards the real world - what
was the most prevalent problem of Dark/Middle Ages Europe, which is when
most fantasy settings are most similar to?

Food.

Access to an adequate amount of food was what separated the poor from
the rich, and enabled the rich to pursue other pursuits - like
knighthood, priesthood, or trading. In a realistic fantasy setting, a
young adventurer who set out to the big city to sell her skill as a
mercenary would be concerned with feeding herself. A cleric would
concern himself with collecting the tithe from his congregation so he
could feed himself, while ensuring his faithful still had enough for
themselves. A powerful vassal knight would be concerned with the food
production of his populous, because if there was a bad harvest there may
be a revolt - and so forth. Similarly, a simple weaver or carpenter
would perform their services in exchange for food (or coin for food),
and a farmer could become one of the most powerful figures in a township
if he played his cards right and had good luck.

Food is consumed at a fantastic rate on a national scale, creating a
perfectly realistic "sink" in the economy. Those with access to plenty
of food will develop quicker both physically and mentally, and will be
less likely to fall ill - a perfect complement stat to XP. If a person
didn't have enough food, they would be crippled and unable to fulfill
themselves in other ways. Food supply is an important factor to consider
when travelling, as everyone who has played D&D or been on a roadtrip in
AZ will know - a factor almost completely unutilized in MMO/MUDs, that
nonetheless often feature extensive travelling.

So, there's my RFC. How can food (supply and production) be implemented
best in an MMO/MUD, to encourage realism and prevent all the problems
associated with inflated stats, while still providing a fun and playable
game? What games currently implement food, in what ways, and how
successful are they? Are there any major problems with the whole concept
of food in an MMO/MUD?