[MUD-Dev2] The Illusion of World Size (Was: Player Choice - How Much is Too Much?)

[cruise]

Thus spake Christopher Lloyd...
> Right. And I bet there's a micro-community of players like yourself who
> specialise in such activities. Who can find a way to stand on top of
> Mount Hyjal first? Prove that it's possible to stand on top of
> Blackrock Spire, etc.

I've long enjoyed doing Parkour in-games as well as in real-life. It's 
one of the major things that turned me off Guild Wars - not being able 
to jump.

<snip>

> But like the construction of roads and motorways, if the capacity
> exists, people will use it. Your new areas will become just as
> populated as the rest of the world, partly by the casual players
> exploring, but also by the more hardcore contingent working their way
> through the grind. There are plenty of players who sign in, buff
> themselves up, and automatically make their way to:
> 
> - Area A (where the easiest monsters with the best pHaT l3wT) to see if
> anyone has raided it recently. If it has, in 60 seconds, they can be at
> the edge of
> - Area B (which may well be on the other side of the continent, but has
> only marginally less l3wT than Area A). After that, it's
> - Area C then
> D.
> - Area E if convenient, or then on to
> - Area F. By that time, Area A has probably respawned, so stop by
> - Area G on the way, and then grind through
> - Area A and
> - B again. 

This isn't a problem with areas, but a problem with your level/loot 
system. The way rewards are handled needs to change, which is a whole 
'nother topic that has been round and around on this list many times :P

> I know a couple of places that have experimented with methods of
> deliberately restricting particular areas of the MMORPG, to make them
> feel a bit more exclusive and deserted. Players like to know about
> secret (profitable?) areas. They also like to make themselves look good
> by -telling other players- about secret areas, and -showing them- the
> secret areas. But, bizarrely, at the end of the day, they don't want
> other players to -actually go there- because then it wouldn't be their
> secret.
> 
> Setting aside restrictions that are put in place on certain areas for
> "premium" paying customer-players, I thought I'd open up this topic for
> discussion.

Instancing + procedural generation is one solution. Generating the world 
based on the player that activates the portal, owns the key, casts the 
teleport spell, etc. means they get the same world each time (your 
procedural generation is repeatable given the same input, right?), but 
it's unique to them.

If the game gave easy access to the history and accomplishments of a 
player, then people don't have to "reveal" the secret location for 
people to know they've been there. CoX's "badge system" includes 
exploration badges for reaching a certain area - a similar system lets 
others know you've fought your way to the undersea city through the 
caverns of uber-doom-ness, without you having to tell them where the 
secret entrance to the caverns actually is.

Player housing is also an attempt, on a smaller scale, of this. Players 
get to control and own their own, if small, part of the game world.