[MUD-Dev] realistic combat vs enjoyable combat

[Rayzam]

"Tom Hunter" <tchunter3 at comcast.net> wrote:

> I snipped Travis Casey's points about weapons but I wanted to come
> down on his side because he pointed out one of my biggest
> complaints about game design in MUDs the near universal lack of
> realism regarding weapons, armor and combat.

...

> If the movies showed realistic combat a lot of extras would be
> dead and most movie of the people watching would not even know
> why.  Combat is fast, unless you know how to fight yourself you
> often won't see the blows bieng struck.

> Also movies are about visuals and partially clothed people are
> more fun to watch than armored people.  Partially clothed people
> also bleed out in seconds in real combat.  Armor is your freind
> from the time of Alexander the Great to modern day Iraqu the guys
> with armor beat the guys without it in battle.

I believe there is an inverted U-shaped curve affecting 'combat',
not realistically, but viscerally. This is for the player, not for
real life.

<EdNote: Graphic slightly edited for clarity.  Errors mine.>

Y-axis = Enjoyment

                  -------------------------------------------
                 /                                           \
                /                                             \
               |                                               |

TIME TAKEN:  SHORT                 MEDIUM                     LONG

Short combats do not produce much enjoyment, because they either are
of no challenge for the player, or the player dies so quickly that
negative reinforcement or punishment occurs.  Long combats do not
produce much enjoyment, because they often get boring. As stated,
its a matter of watching 2 hp bars go down. Or the player settles
down into a routine of combat options, cycling through them.  Medium
combats allow enough time to get viscerally involved, without being
so long as to get boring.

Stringing a number of short combats together, does not necessarily
lead to the same enjoyment as a medium combat.  Taking a long
combat, and being able to flee & return in medium combat chunks does
not necessarily lead to the same enjoyment as a medium combat.

And the last caveat: this enjoyment is separate [though not
independent of] the enjoyment from the risk of the combat that can
produce its own adrenalin-infused rush of excitement.

    rayzam
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