[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Player-generated content

[Tom Hudson]

On 9/24/07, cruise <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote:
> Depends on how much control the player's are given, I guess. The more
> control they have, the better quests and the more fun it'll be - but the
>   greater the potential for abuse, and not just of the legal kind.

EVE-Online had player generated quests of two types: hauling stuff and
PvP. (I believe some of this has changed since I was playing
actively.)

Some people make their money hauling stuff for players who have huge
logistics needs and would rather spend cash than spend time in an
industrial moving things themselves. It isn't an entry-level quest,
though, since you usually have to have enough collateral to cover the
value of what you're shipping, and so what you can earn for any
particular haul is usually only a small fraction of what you already
have. There's also a fair amount of scamming: haul this item to this
system and we'll pay well - only it's a lawless system with a bunch of
pirates camping on the gate, and if you realize the trap and turn
back, you've forfeited your collateral.

Unfortunately, bounties are even worse in the EVE model: when a pirate
gets a big bounty on their head, and doesn't want to keep it for
bragging rights, they just transfer to a clone without any cybernetic
implants, climb into a cheap spaceship, and let a friend blow them up
to collect the bounty.

Tom