[MUD-Dev] Advancement considered harmful (long)

[Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services]

Travis Nixon wrote: 

[snip of great summary of MMRPG nirvana]

> My own personal inclinations here are leaning towards some sort of system
> where the players have to "earn" that power, by being given a little, and
> not giving them more if they abuse it.  Or maybe by "proving" themselves
> through some sort of player voting system.  Obviously there are a lot of
> problems with any sort of scheme where players can give "roleplaying points"
> or whatever you want to call them to other players, but if those problems
> could be solved or worked around, it might just work.
> 
> What I'm thinking of is along these lines: you might have certain NPCs or
> positions that have certain powers.  Say, for example, a captain of the
> border guard.  It might be well within the powers of this captain to send
> excursions into enemy territory (be they orcs or demons or even another
> nation of the same race), and he obviously would have under his control a
> number of guards.  With some sort of "earned power" system, it would be
> possible to either give the player the option to control that NPC, or
> possibly even have their own character elevated to the position, at which
> point the player gains control of the guards.  Obviously this is a lot of
> power to be placed in the hands of a player, and this would not be an "entry
> level" position in the earned power scheme. :)  Now, at this point, the
> player is in charge of a squad of border guards, and basically can do
> whatever they want with them.  Attack the enemy, protect the citizens, send
> a detachment of guards to track down those nasty mass murderers that seem to
> keep popping up, whatever.  :)  Imagine this a few levels higher, and it
> would be possible for a player to declare war on the enemy (whose leader may
> be yet another player), and put the resources of the kingdom behind that
> declaration.
> 

I think you are on the right track here.  The danger is that the system might 
become too heirarchical, but I think this can be mitigated.  Consider the 
following design for advancement.

A game world has some number of kingdoms.  Each kingdom is ruled by a king.  For 
the sake of this example, assume empire building is supported by the game engine 
and is a chief goal of the elder players.  Now, what if heirarchies or levels were 
set up in each kingdom.  The military of the kingdom will be the easiest to 
describe, since militaries are heirarchical by nature.  The lowest level would be 
a footman.  A squad of footmen would be led by a sergeant.  Four squads and their 
sergeants would form a platoon, headed by a lieutenant. Three to four platoons 
would have a captain as their regimental commander.  Regiments would answer to a 
Colonel, who would in turn report to the General of the Army, who answers to the 
king.  

To make this more interesting, you could have special units with a higher entry 
point.  For instance, the calvary horseman could be at the 3rd (lieutenant) level, 
answering to a captain, while the entry level archer might be at the 2nd 
(sergeant) level.  This would mean that a sergeant could choose a path as a 
platoon leader, or move into the calvary  (although getting an appointment to the 
calvary might require a good bit of money, in addition to a stellar career as a 
sergeant), and a footman might choose to be either a sergeant or an archer.

Although not as straightforward, areas other than the military could be mapped out 
for levels as well.  An apprentice smith may answer to a journeyman smith who 
answers to a master smith who answers to a grand master who reports to his 
profession's guildmaster who answers to the Chancellor who reports to the king.

Basically, there are seven levels, with the king at level seven and the peon at 
level one.  Now, typically with such heirarchies, we tend to think that this game 
will be great if you're a king and it will suck if you're a peon...but does this 
HAVE to be so?  What if the king really wasn't all that different from the peon?  
What if "levels" were totally decoupled from hit-points, skill, and the various 
other powers typically associated with them.  What if "level" only indicated 
responsibility and authority, but not personal power?  What if the peon could take 
the king in a fair fight?  What if the peon had ALL the power and abilities (and 
perhaps is more skilled at many of them) of the king, except one:  THE ABILITY TO 
PROMOTE.

Specifically, the king would be the only person with the power to promote someone 
to level six.  The Chancellor, the General of the Army, and others at level six 
would all be there by appointment of the king.  Likewise, those at level six would 
have the power to promote others to level five, and so on.  Because of this power 
to promote, the overriding principle for levels is that each person will be 
responsible to satisfy the needs of his position as outlined by his superior in 
order to be promoted to the next level.

Promotion to the next level will not depend on skills, but on accomplishments.  
However, greater skills will naturally lead to greater accomplishments.  Promotion 
requires only two things: 1) a position must be open (either new, or currently 
filled by an NPC) and 2) your superior (the promoter) must recommend you for the 
promotion.  The promoter will be motivated to promote the most qualified 
individual by his own desire for personal gain (since higher qualifications on the 
part of the promotee will likely lead to the promoter being able to more easily 
accomplish his own missions and objectives as assigned by his superior), however, 
to keep him honest, the game engine should have some form of "public opinion" on 
promotions. It would not be a good idea to give the public the impression that 
your promotions are colored by prejudice or that you are promoting friends over 
those who are qualified.

Of course, it is the "public opinion" which will probably be the most difficult to 
implement and most important concept, but I see it working this way.

Talking to NPCs who have a good opinion of you (depending on your conversation 
skills) might give you insight into whom they like and whom they dislike.  This 
would reflect the game engine's "public opinion."  The promoter would not HAVE to 
sway to public opinion, but his decisions will affect the public's opinion of him, 
which in turn could impact whether or not he gets promoted to the next available 
position above him.  

Public opinion will also be affected greatly by how you treat subordinates.  For 
instance, in the military, whether or not you bring your troops home alive will 
have tremendous impact on how you are viewed by the public.  They tend to dislike 
those who sacrifice their sons and daughters to war.  Each person will have to 
balance the public's opinion against meeting the objectives of  their superiors.  
This will motivate each officer to spend time training and equipping his troops so 
that he can lead them up the hill that he is assigned to take by his superiors, 
while not sacrificing lives.  In special cases, depending upon the success and 
danger of your mission, your unit's actions may be considered heroic even though 
many lives are lost.  If your squad holds off an assault by 50 orcs, but you lose 
half of your squad, it may be a good idea to submit the names of the dead for 
medals or even a memorial.  If the public agrees with the recognition, the dead 
will be remembered as heroes and instead of being thought incompetent, you will 
likely be seen in a more favorable light.  In any case, if you can satisfy your 
superior's objectives while keeping public opinion high, your superior will likely 
promote you at his first opportunity.  Not only will you have proven yourself 
competent, but his decision to promote you will win him further favor with the 
people.

How you dress, your charisma, and other factors may also play a role in how you 
are perceived by others.  Reactions may vary from one individual to the next, but 
all would have the potential to react to some degree, and adjust their approval 
accordingly.  This should add interest to the manufacture and sale of clothing, 
jewelry, and other items of charm, both magical and ordinary.

NPC's will not be the only ones who register opinions.  Other player characters 
who interact with you should have an opportunity to register their approval or 
disapproval.  This will provide some flexibility in those situations where the 
engine isn't really capable of discernment.  It will also provide an opportunity 
for slander and other political shenanigans, but it would be important to have 
this balanced with adequate input on actual accomplishments.  (I've posted at 
length on ideas for a reputation system which incorporates this, but for the sake 
of brevity, I will merely allude to it here.)

There may well be many accomplishments that are not understood or recognized by 
the game engine.  These accomplishments, however, will be noted by player 
characters who may adjust their approval accordingly.  The most important person 
to impress with your accomplishments will always be your direct superior, since he 
will  have the final say in whether or not you get promoted.  You should also do 
your best to make sure that his superior is pleased with the job he is doing.  If 
he is promoted to the next level as a result of your actions, then his position 
will be open and he will be likely to fill it with the person who was responsible 
for his success.  

If you are the king, your life will likely revolve around public opinion issues.  
Prosperity, employment, success in battle, low taxes, and an expanding empire must 
all be balanced to ensure that you are loved by your people.  If your approval 
rating falls too low, you may become vulnerable to having your position usurped by 
an ambitious major lord.  Of course, there could be options available to you, both 
political and surreptitious, to ensure that ambitious lords never get the chance 
to overthrow you, but these same options will be available to them as well. 

The pursuit of a favorable public opinion will cause the king to set up goals that 
then flow down from above.  The king will wish to increase his power, his realm, 
and his approval rating.  He may believe that it is critical to have access to 
wood from special trees known only to exist far to the east in the elven realm.  
He may believe that the wood would increase the range of his archers and allow his 
shipwrights to build stronger, faster ships.  He may ask the Chancellor to ensure 
that the elves allow him access to the forest at a fair price.  (He could just 
order the army to march in and take it, but that would obviously have a negative 
effect on his relationship with the elves.)  The Chancellor may task an ambassador 
to travel as an emissary to the elves.  He may set a price that he believes is 
fair, an amount that he believes is needed, and even a time frame for completing 
the negotiation as dictated to him by the king.  The ambassador may need to 
request an escort from the army, or hire mercenaries to ensure that he arrives 
safely.  And so on.

Anyway, I hope this is all making sense.  I copied and pasted much of it from 
another document in wich I was brainstorming on ideas for the kind of MMRPG I'd 
like to play and perhaps create some day.  In general, achievment is important to 
MMRPGs, but often, the power disparity between players is detrimental.  
Heirarchies are also typically not a good thing, but IF participation in the 
heirarchy is completely voluntary, and IF the power weilded by those at a higher 
level is more subtle, then I think the issue of inferiority or shame can be 
mitigated if not avoided altogether.  Since the king doesn't really have any 
powers not available to the peon, he can't really FORCE the peon to do something.  
The peon must volunteer to do what the king wants him to.  He is motivated to do 
so if he wishes to be promoted, but if promotion is not required to become skilled 
or proficient, and if the game has other pursuits which interest him, perhaps he 
will decide otherwise.  He can always tell himself that the king is a pansy whom 
he could take in a sword fight on any given day.

Sowhaddayathink?

--Phinehas

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		"All things are permissible,
			but not all things are expedient."
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