[MUD-Dev] Acting casual about casual gamers

[rayzam]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Madrona Tree" <madronatree at hotmail.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2000 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Acting casual about casual gamers


> I suppose then, that this could extend to player-killers and grief
players.
> It would be nice for those who hunt player-killers to be able to find
them.
> This has proven difficult in games, where with the click of a mouse, they
> are gone from the world.  Folks have always said that a lot of the
> antisocial behavior is because of the anonymity of the character.  Giving
> the character a persistant presence would take away a bit of that
anonymity.
>
> Combining the ideas of one character per shard (if your mud has shards),
> persistant characters, and giving the antisocials other avenues of
> expression... I think this could be a huge deterrent to antisocial
behavior.
> I hope those with more knowledge and experience than I have will make this
> idea better.  :)

    That's a very good suggestion.

> Randomization being a most obvious one.  If the experience is different
for
> me than for you, it makes it more difficult for spoiler sites to get it
> 'right' ... because there would be no right.  That, and people look at
> spoiler sites when they don't have any idea how to do something in the
> game... so perhaps 'hint npcs' (maybe you have to pay them some money for
> telling you a 'rumor' -- like cops pay informants) would be nice too.

    As for this, I instituted rumors. Citizens of the various towns in the
mud, all inherit a base citizen code, which includes rumors. There are 3
styles of rumors: high level rumors (about the mud in general, hidden areas,
etc), area level rumors (any area coded can add rumors as appropriate), and
player rumors (players can go to various places that are appropriate as
rumor mills, like a pub, and start their own rumor).  The first two never
time out and don't have maximums. The player rumors have random turnover,
both to keep the sheer number down, and to keep them fresh.  The citizens
when hanging out, can sometimes pass a rumor to someone else around them.
Works pretty well, though none of it is as detailed as a spoiler site.

    On the other side, this is another one of those 'little treasures', from
that thread that didn't go very far. A nicety that players enjoy, without
affecting game balance. A nice touch. It's great when a player is sitting
down in a pub, and an npc patron says, 'Hey, did you hear that Boffo had to
flee from a pack of wild puppies?', and then they ask Boffo about it :)


    Rayzam
    www.retromud.org






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