[MUD-Dev] Resets, repops and quests

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

Alex Oren wrote:
> 
> The question that was left unanswered is: How can a mud have a working quest
> system without some kind of resets?

Human intervention. Several imms take it upon themselves to create and
write up quests which are run once. They may later be modified and
re-run (goblins instead of orcs, the king's dimwit son instead of a
merchant's eldest daughter, etc.) but generally speaking the concept is
for several people to serve more or less as directive GM's who take it
upon themselves to provide the quest system. 

A quest is difficult to generate algorithmically, and really shouldn't
be. The 'generic dungeon' concept is amusing for a while, but the real
problem is that MUDs today can not sufficiently support the same brand
of environmental complexity that a human being can. It can't 'feel' the
players' styles, and is in the end generally unsatisfying.
 
> Just another thing, let me add that I really like the quest concept on one hand
> but highly value a consistent storyline on the other (probably comes from being
> a DM for too long).

Consistency is much easier to maintain with a human being directing it.
A MUD usually can't even enforce proper sense: you would have to write
an awful lot of code for the monsters to make sure that (for example) a
hobgoblin in the same room with a gnome when both are mobs would result
in a fight. It's always funny to see something like this:

	A gnome guard is here, wary of hobgoblin intrusion.
	A gnome guard smiles at you.
	A hobgoblin arrives from the south.
	A gnome guard smiles at a hobgoblin.

I mean, come on. This is ludicrous. ;)

I'm not saying it can't be done by a computer. I'm saying let the
computer do what the computer does best (handle stats) and the people do
what people do best (handle gameflow).