[MUD-Dev] Do Quests need to be Fed-Ex

[David Lyttle]

I was reading the thread arguing about this point in the context of
Horizons and had to chip in.

To me, quests absolutely do not have to be Fed-Ex.

Unfortunately I haven't yet seen a graphical based game that
implements this properly.

No wait, I have. The game was Dragonrealms and by extension i would
assume most MUD's too.

Dragonrealms had a mechanic whereby you could seek favours from the
Gods to counteract death.

These favours were received by solving puzzles, eg figuring out you
have to open the window, then figuring out how to open the
window. Most MUD's, i would assume, have similar type settings. In
that you have to figure out the syntax to do anything.

Graphical games don't really have too much similar going for them
apart from the odd, "throw the levers in the correct order" type
thing.

But why shouldn't they?

The MUD's in general suffered from the fact that it is easy to
obtain a list of the 'Quests' and type in what is required at each
stage which kind of defeats the purpose of these quests.

Why can't graphical based games include sub-games as part of the
quest?  These sub-games could run solely on the client with
verification of the results taking place on the server. Some general
ideas could be....

A ranged class wants to progress to the next level, they must show
their skill in a target range with targets popping out in pseudo
random order for specific amounts of time, use the cursor keys or
mouse to position the sight and shoot.

A character wants to gain entry to the uber pyramid of doom. Well,
the lock takes the form of a sliding tile puzzle and it must be
completed in a certain amount of time.

A warrior wants to move the boulder blocking the cave entrance. Make
a sub-game were the faster he taps a key on the keyboard, the more
the rock moves.

Any of these could be modified by the characters stats. Eg, the
ranged class could have a high speed rating meaning that the targets
stay up for longer hence are easier to shoot, the second example
could be performed by a character with a high intelligence rating,
meaning they get longer to solve the tile puzzle, and the third
example could be performed by a warrior witha high strength, which
means he doesn't need to tap the key as quickly as another, less
strong, character.

It seems to me that a lot has been lost in the transition from MUD
to graphical based game. Maybe this is an attempt to cater for the
lowest common denominator in the games market by removing the need
for player skill over character skill. But when you look at the rest
of the game market, there is a fair degree of player skill required
and those games seem to do well.

rgds

David Lyttle
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