[MUD-Dev] DGN: Why give the players all the numbers?

[Amanda Walker]

On Thursday, September 11, 2003, at 05:40  PM, Chanur Silvarian wrote:

> I would assert that the player doesn't need to know any of these
> things and that they are only a hold-over from a medium in which
> there was no way to hide them (pencil and paper).  The only reason
> the numbers exist is because in the beginning these types of games
> were played manually, with dice.

But people like playing games with numbers and dice.

I think the historical record amply demonstrates that whether or not
the numbers are visible to the players, a subset of the players will
work them out anyway, at least to a reasonable degree of
approximation.

> Most metrics are completely unnecessary for gameplay and end up
> being the source of endless complaints by players, reviews by
> developers, and generally an all around headache.

True.  But if you don't provide them, players will create their own
metrics, and then promptly complain about them and create a headache
for you indistinguishable from the first one.

> I know that I'm a radical in thinking it, but I believe that
> complete removal of all numbers (except how much item X costs)
> would go a long way to improving immersion in anything calling
> itself an RPG and would stop a lot of the customer complaints
> about how they can't optimize themself to be as good or better
> than someone else.

To a certain segment of your player base, optimizing themselves to
be as good or better than someone else is the whole point of your
game.


Amanda Walker
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