[MUD-Dev] Remote client connection

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 21 Jun, Lurn at iae.nl wrote:

> >   Try this on for size: that as you advance in skill, you don\'t advance in
> > personal power.  You don\'t go from a child with a pointed stick to superman
> > with a nuclear weapon.  You go from a novice swordsman to an experienced
> > swordsman.  Your hit points don\'t go up.  You remain as mortal as always,
> > and your personal power level (ability to kill others) doesn\'t go up nearly
> > as dramatically as in EverQuest.  Instead of a 50:1 power ratio as you
> > advance to the pinnacle of accomplishment, you only advance perhaps 3:1.

> That may be attractive for some aspects of PC to PC interaction, but what
> holds a players interest in the long term?  If, say, 5 is a reasonable
> party size, then does it follow that 15 newbie-level characters can visit
> the most dangerous areas in as much safety as the 5 experienced and equip-
> ped adventurers?

Not necessarily. That depends on how the combat system is set up. After
all,  it is highly unlikely that 15 (or even 5 !) players could hit the
same target at the same time.  Also,  the inexperienced players may not
have access to the same quality equipment, reducing their chances quite
dramatically, though you could argue that would defeat the 3:1 ratio.

>   It may be realistic to have this be the case, but is it \'fun\'?

To some players it will be, to others it will not. Adopting this system
requires considerable modifications to the way the game is set up.  The
typical "raise in level to kill bigger monsters" game requires a signi-
ficant increase in power between levels to make it visible. By reducing
the difference between levels that obviously is not going to be much of
an incentive, and hence a poor goal for the game.

> Given that it is, after all, a game, most players like to feel rewarded
> in some fashion as they play.  What do you propose to offer players as a
> continuing challenge?  Socializers may be happy in a system like this,
> but Explorers, Achievers, and Killers like to feel like they\'ve accom-
> plished something after a gaming session- knowledge, items, meaningful
> points, etc.

Basically you will have to abandon the principle of killing monsters for
a reward. What you replace it with defines to a large extend how players
are going to appreciate your game.
There are plenty of games where characters -never- gain power at all and
yet some of those games are quite popular. Explorers might be happy with
world-building, achievers with running an IC-faction, or with setting up
IC-plots.  Socialisers will be happy to act in a plot,  and killers will
find ways to upset others regardless of the game.

> Any meaningful form of advancement translates somehow into in-game power
> except on a pure talker.

Really?


Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey

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