<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ] --> <!--X-From-R13: X Q Znjerapr <pynjNhaqre.rate.ftv.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 14:02:41 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199809012102.OAA05175#under,engr.sgi.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 018001bdb90f$477d8ba0$3c32cfcf@Painland --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00901.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00903.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00429.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00365.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00902">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00902">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00902">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ] </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: J C Lawrence <<A HREF="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 14:02:30 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:33:09 -0500 Damion Schubert<zjiria#texas,net> wrote: > By comparison, I've played Unreal lately, and I can't stress how > unsatisfying it is to never fight more than 2 monsters at a time. > And sure, they all exhibit good AI, but in some cases, it's so good > that the only way I could beat the level was to abuse holes in the > AI. I felt like a cheat when I did that. When I killed 60 > skeletons in M&M6 with one spell, I felt like a god. I've never played Quake and recently found that Quake had been ported to Irix and would run quite happily on the Indigo2 behind me. So I did. Note: I'm not much of a fan of the genre in general but liked plaing DOOM, Descent, Wolf3D etc for about a day each before I got bored (I liked Descent in particular for its 3D sense requirement of the player). What games do I play repeatedly? Puzzle games mostly. I'm a big fan of Sokoban and have happily spent weeks figuring out how to do a particular level. I also collect and adore computer versions of Othello (haven't found one I can't reliably beat yet). I realise this hardly places me in the target market for first person shooters. I can't comment on multi-player Quake. Single player quake is just plain boring and monotonous. Perhaps this has to do with my play style. Some, I know, run in with all guns blazing, and more or less attempt to out run and out shoot whatever is there in a mega-testosterone paroxysm. I don't. I play the angles, the ricochets, the cautious advance, the careful arrangement such that I can (nearly always) waste them without ever placing myself at risk, let alone in the line of fire. My goal is to play each level such that I don't even get shot, let along nicked, once. Just leave a perfectly clean slate. Quake made this approach very easy. Grenades/rockets could be bounced of walls and arranged in a line along the row an NPC would advance. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! No risk to me, just a little care and they're dead. Shotguns have almost zero spread and infinite range, and there are LOTs of places where supposedly "tough" sections are overviewed or partially seen from earlier locations. Lob a grenade up to stir the NPC's and then pick them off at your leisure at great range with the shotgun (for which there is a nearly infinite supply of shells). Now that area is a cake walk (I recall one level where I did this to two shambling yeti-type creatures, rending what was a supposedly "difficult" bit almost trivial after some 300+ shotgun shells (yes, I had to go away and reload in the middle) fired in compleat safety from the swamp underneath the area. Heck, even the penultimate bad guys on the freebie version (you get four of the pink clawed chaps and then a yeti teleports in) submitted trivially to the same attack: 1) Ascend the elevator 2) Step back and wait for the elevator to drop 3) Lob a grenade to wake up the NPC's 4) Run about until the pink claw things fall into the pit formed by the dropped elevator. 5) Lob grenades from the top down the pit until they all die. 6) Once they die the yeti teleports in, so drop down the pit yourself. 7) Reload and heal as necessary. 8) Use the shotgun and shoot the yeti every time you see him over the edge of the pit. 9) Reload. 10) Repeat #8 until the yeti dies. 11) Teleport back up to the top and exit the level. Hardly difficult, never challenging. It wasn't fun. I found that I could compleat the entire freebie game at the most difficult level in a couple hours, never having attempted it before. I never felt challenged. There are several lessons that apply equally well to MUDs in there. > Does this have relevance for MUDs? I think it has a lot. On the > other hand, about a third of the posts on this forum is dedicated to > controlling powergamers, instead of indulging them. =) I prefer indulging them while aggressively hiding the fact. -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net (Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------(*) Internet: claw#under,engr.sgi.com ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00364" HREF="msg00364.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> "Damion Schubert" <zjiria#texas,net></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00901.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00903.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: lockless system - foolproof?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00429.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00365.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00902"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00902"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00401" HREF="msg00401.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Tue 28 Jul 1998, 18:48 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00414" HREF="msg00414.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Wed 29 Jul 1998, 06:09 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00418" HREF="msg00418.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Adam J. Thornton <a href="mailto:adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU">adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU</a>, Wed 29 Jul 1998, 14:21 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00429" HREF="msg00429.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Brandon J. Rickman <a href="mailto:ashes#pc4,zennet.com">ashes#pc4,zennet.com</a>, Thu 30 Jul 1998, 04:43 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00902" HREF="msg00902.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Tue 01 Sep 1998, 21:02 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00365" HREF="msg00365.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Damion Schubert <a href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</a>, Mon 27 Jul 1998, 03:44 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00381" HREF="msg00381.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Tue 28 Jul 1998, 02:04 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00410" HREF="msg00410.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Damion Schubert <a href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</a>, Wed 29 Jul 1998, 03:06 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00431" HREF="msg00431.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 30 Jul 1998, 14:37 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>