[MUD-Dev] [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy!

[Chris Duesing]

Brian Miller wrote:
> Amanda Walker wrote:

>> I quit both EQ and DAOC because, despite having many friends in
>> the game and on the same server, I could never overcome the 3
>> month head start they had.  I would have been a much more loyal
>> customer of both if I'd been able to enter the game at a higher
>> baseline.  Sure, I wouldn't have known as much about how to play
>> the game, but I'd have been able to let my friends teach me the
>> ropes instead of soloing for months in Faydark or Hiberbia before
>> giving up in complete boredom, while hearing my friends talk
>> about all the fun they were having that was closed off to me
>> simply because I arrived later.

> City of Heroes has a very interesting solution to this problem.
> One character of at least 10th level can take on another character
> as a 'sidekick'.  The sidekick is able to perform at a level only
> slightly less than his mentor as long as they remain within a
> certain range of each other.  This enables the low level character
> to be useful in combat and contribute to the success of the
> team. It does have the problem that although the lower level
> player's skills are enhanced they still have the same amount of
> health so the first time one of the high level enemies connects
> with an attack the sidekick is most likely dead.

The City of Heros approach does seem like the obvious solution. Of
course the in game explanation is specific to that genre. It may not
be neccessary to even have an in game explanation that is that
fleshed out. I remember from way back in my pen and paper days that
when I joined a new group of people the GM/DM would usually allow me
to roll a player at their level. I would be lacking the cool
treasure and whatnot, but I could then play with them. Someone who
is not as 'time rich' and simply wants to play with their friends
should perhaps be able to create a character that remains the
average of their friends levels and enters the game with the largest
concentration of their friends. Of course the explanation is they
were out 'adventuring' while the person was offline. There should be
some sort of penalties to make sure this was not the most appealing
type of character to everyone who logged in. Perhaps this kind of
character cannot gain exp from soloing, or is comparatively weak for
their level, etc. Just so the rest of the players in the game don't
resent them...

Chris
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev