[MUD-Dev] trade skill idea

[Dave Rickey]

-----Original Message-----
From: John Buehler <johnbue at email.msn.com>


>Working in a blacksmith shop should be more than dropping a hammer on hot
>metal.  Where does the metal come from?  What quality is it?  Do I have all
>the right tools for making the right bends and shapes from the metal?  Is
my
>apprentice up to snuff?  Do I need more room for anvils, forges and other
>brickabrack?  When making an item, do I want to case harden the piece, weld
>steel to iron or just make the whole thing from steel?  No single technique
>should be obviously superior to others - as with combat.  Melee has some
>advantages and problems, while magic should have other advantages and
>problems.  Players can be involved in a trade by focusing into the task at
>hand and providing more choices and decisions along the way.  The player
>decisions are strategic ones, while the character itself handles the
tactical
>ones.
>
    Okay, I've been just observing up to now.  I'm designing and building
Camelot's trade skill system, and I think there have been some good ideas,
but I'm still under the impression that all of this is missing a *big*
point.

    I never thought "Money Pumps" were fun.  The fact that I could sit down
and boat-mine 1000 ore, turn that into 1700 ingots (on average), turn that
into 850 carpentry hammers, and turn *that* into 13,600 gold, wasn't at all
fun, it was boring as hell.  The only reason I did it was because I needed
money, for mastering Magery and buying my tower.

    And, frankly, I doubt I was alone, and making the whole process less
repetitive wouldn't have helped much.  To me, the potential fun in Trades is
in making things people want to buy, not in churning a gather/produce/sell
cycle without ever interacting with others.  Trades are potentially *huge*
community builders, but only if people want and need what the tradesmen
produce.

--Dave Rickey




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