[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: Loot on demand (was: Will companysanctionedcheating hurt theMMOcommunity?)

[Lee Sheldon]

Raph Koster wrote:

> In-game bulletin boards are pretty much standard issue on
> muds. But when we put them in UO (which we considered a required
> feature for launch, because of their ubiquity in muds) they were
> hugely underutilized. Granted, they weren't a very good
> implementation. And I believe EQ had in-game boards at launch as
> well. I know M59 did.

We had bulletin boards in The Gryphon Tapestry and I wanted to have
them in URU: Ages Beyond Myst as well. In TGT the boards were very
local. A pub would announce prices, limerick contests, performances
by traveling minstrels etc. A community side of the board would list
a few errands local NPCs needed to have undertaken. The rest of the
board was for player-generated messages.

In URU the D'ni city in the Earth Age was an ongoing construction
and restoration project. I tied the opening of new local content
directly to these activities. Again, bulletin boards were used by
various developer-run entities, but provided plenty of room for
player input. The major social and political community groups all
began as developer-run (driven by either actors or NPCs) with the
intent that eventually players would take over, so a given bulletin
board tied to a group that players were making their own gradually
would have moved to all player content.

For me the success of any secondary communications system depends on
generating a need for it in the world, and seeding its utility and
usage for players.

Lee
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