MUD-Dev
mailing list archive

Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]

Date:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Thread:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Index:  [ Author  | Date  | Thread  ]

[MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts



-----Original Message-----
From: Ling <K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk>
To: mud-dev#kanga,nu <mud-dev#kanga,nu>
Date: Thursday, January 14, 1999 11:54 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Thoughts


>> The theory of player relativity:
>> No statistic has meaning without comparison.
>>
>> How benchmarks are built:
>> When no measure of quality is readily provided, a measure of quality will
be
>> invented
>>
>> Peek-a-boo:
>> If the player cannot see it, it does not exist.
>
>I feel this contradicts with the previous two.  Is that deliberate or am I
>missing something?


They build on each other. Consider a game which exposes no statistics to the
player, and the following applications of the laws.

Peek-a-boo: The player cannot see a measure of quality, so he concludes that
there is none.

Relativity: A measure of quality will only be acceptable if it can be
applied to others. Therefore he mentally constructs one or more such
measures privately.

Benchmarks: He selects one which makes him look good. Others who look good
under it support this. It *becomes* the measure of quality by sheer weight
of numbers, in the absence of other measures which garner greater support.

In such a way, the game now has *obvious* levels, even though someone could
have found the existing ones with his pedant and magnifying glass had he
wanted to invest the effort. ;)

| Caliban Tiresias Darklock            caliban#darklock,com
| Darklock Communications          http://www.darklock.com/
| U L T I M A T E   U N I V E R S E   I S   N O T   D E A D
| 774577496C6C6E457645727355626D4974H       -=CABAL::3146=-






Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]