----- Forwarded message from Brian Bilek <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ----- Delivered-To: jbender@localhost Delivered-To: mud-dev@xxxxxxxx Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 14:20:01 -0800 From: Brian Bilek <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: mud-dev@xxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Alternatives to Permadeath Reply-To: mud-dev@xxxxxxxx szii@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > Off the cuff, I hate it. =P > From a player's point of view, my character LIVES in this world. > Even while not out adventuring/slaying monsters/questing he should > be honing his skills in town, doing katas every morning, > researching in the library, etc. > I dislike decaying ANYTHING because it's a never ending battle, > much like trying to keep a house clean with a child around. I > don't play games to simply try and "keep up" my standing. I want > to advance. I completely agree with this statement. Anything that takes away from my skills or achievements should be due to my actions directly, my mistakes, or the actions of another player, where such interaction is allowed. It simply isn't 'fun', because I'm not playing enough or playing in a certain way enough, to lose stats. (some great suggestions cut out) To me, death needs to have an affect on a player's character. One that is strong enough to discourage recklessness, but not strong enough to discourage play. My thoughts lean towards a system with multiple achievement tracts, where some are affected by death. Take a three-tract system: 1) Stats and abilities. The mainstay of the CRPGer. These are granted through personal achievement, on an exponential scale, with death taking only a low percentage out if any. 2) Comparative rank. This can be for PvP oriented and for non PvP oriented skills. Certainly you earn PvP ranks by defeating others in a controlled environment - a "grand master" should truly be the one best in the world or server. I envision the ranks affecting training - you must find a trainer to advance past certain skill milestones, and players with the highest ranks are necessary to acheive the highest levels. The ranks would be skill limited of course...high ranks would require high skill in addition to the other method of achievement. For non PvP skills, perhaps some complex task must be puzzled out to achieve the higher ranks (or finding a trainer). I envision some way to competitively achieve the rank, in comparison to others, without combat. The rank would allow certain actions to be performed, or some differentiation of products. 3) Religious/Guild/Political affiliation...or something else tied very closely to life and death. Perhaps 'family honor,' or somesuch. A third ranking of some sort. Only those players who achieve high comparative rank in certain skills and have high religious or political favor in their chosen sect can earn certain prestigious positions of power. As you can see, this is sort of off the cuff as well. But I think that the issue of permadeath can be addressed through finding more ways to benefit the player who never dies rather than punish the ones who die more severely. -Brian _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev mailing list MUD-Dev@xxxxxxxx https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev > ----- End forwarded message ----- -- +------------------------+ |jbender@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| +------------------------+ It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck? One in a million, perhaps.