<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 -->
<!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat -->
<!--X-From-R13: "Ybfgre, Dncu" <exbfgreNbevtva.rn.pbz> -->
<!--X-Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 07:51:06 -0800 -->
<!--X-Message-Id: 11A17AA2B9EAD111BCEA00A0C9B41793EDC928#forest,origin.ea.com -->
<!--X-Content-Type: text/plain -->
<!--X-Head-End-->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</title>
<!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" -->
<link rev="made" href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.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="msg00130.html">Previous</a>
| <a href="msg00132.html">Next</a>
]
Thread:
[ <a href="msg00117.html">Previous</a>
| <a href="msg00136.html">Next</a>
]
Index:
[ <A HREF="author.html#00131">Author</A>
| <A HREF="#00131">Date</A>
| <A HREF="thread.html#00131">Thread</A>
]
<!--X-TopPNI-End-->
<!--X-MsgBody-->
<!--X-Subject-Header-Begin-->
<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</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>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat </LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 09:46:37 -0600</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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: J C Lawrence [<A HREF="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com</A>]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 6:33 PM
> To: mud-dev#kanga,nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat
>
>
> On Mon, 11 Jan 1999 08:22:05 -0800
> T Alexander Popiel<popiel#snugharbor,com> wrote:
>
> > The obvious pitfall to charging money for things like 'say' is
> > that pretty soon most of your players will stop talking to each
> > other. This makes for a pretty boring game, IMNSHO.
I have seen muds that charge movement points for yelling and/or
shouting, presumably in order to reduce spam. They seem to me to be
missing the point that interaction with others is why one plays a mud as
opposed to a standalone game. Channeling communication for higher signal
is more profitable for the game than merely preventing it.
> A curious observation along that line is that for many people having
> to type is actively considered as part of the cost of a command.
> Thus a "say" command, which typically contains a fair bit of user
> text, is subjectively considered an expensive command as it requires
> more typing than, "kill bubba".
This is absolutely true; else we would not have the proliferation of
fancy autocompletion systems in mud parsers. Note that the most basic
abbreviations on a mud are those for "say" and "emote".
It would be worth debating whether speech should need a command at all;
just typing talks, and all other commands require a prefixed symbol
instead. Graphical muds seem to be following this path--EverQuest for
example requires a slash / in front of its commands, as in /who, /con,
etc. It would be interesting to see how this would manifest in a text
mud, and what environments it would be suited for. I considered once
adding a "converse" mode to Legend, wherein whatever you typed was
assumed to just be speech until you changed modes back to normal
(possibly a "locked tell", since tell conversations entail typing "tell
bubba" over and over--and you can only abbreviate names so far in a
populated playerbase before you run into conflicts).
> I've often seen comments by players along the line of, "I'm sick of
> typing (chatting), I'm off to kill something."
Which is probably why many see real-time voice as the "killer app" for
online games. The effort is reduced to a bare minimum. It does fly in
the face of roleplaying, unless APIs like Voxware's "Voice Fonts" become
common, cheap technology.
> Ease of use is the big hidden cost.
Isn't it always? :)
-Raph
</PRE>
<!--X-Body-of-Message-End-->
<!--X-MsgBody-End-->
<!--X-Follow-Ups-->
<HR>
<ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>:
<ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00144" HREF="msg00144.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00136" HREF="msg00136.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins <adam#angel,com></li></ul>
</UL></LI></UL>
<!--X-Follow-Ups-End-->
<!--X-References-->
<!--X-References-End-->
<!--X-BotPNI-->
<UL>
<LI>Prev by Date:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00130.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc (long)</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Next by Date:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00132.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Prev by thread:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00117.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Next by thread:
<STRONG><A HREF="msg00136.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></STRONG>
</LI>
<LI>Index(es):
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="index.html#00131"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI>
<LI><A HREF="thread.html#00131"><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: MUD Design doc - Combat</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00067" HREF="msg00067.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Kristen Koster <a href="mailto:koster#eden,com">koster#eden,com</a>, Wed 06 Jan 1999, 21:09 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00080" HREF="msg00080.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Kristen Koster <a href="mailto:koster#eden,com">koster#eden,com</a>, Thu 07 Jan 1999, 03:06 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00110" HREF="msg00110.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 12 Jan 1999, 06:51 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00117" HREF="msg00117.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#snugharbor,com">popiel#snugharbor,com</a>, Tue 12 Jan 1999, 17:38 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00131" HREF="msg00131.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 13 Jan 1999, 15:51 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00136" HREF="msg00136.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Wed 13 Jan 1999, 18:42 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00144" HREF="msg00144.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 13 Jan 1999, 23:16 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00158" HREF="msg00158.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
quzah [softhome] <a href="mailto:quzah#softhome,net">quzah#softhome,net</a>, Thu 14 Jan 1999, 03:12 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00291" HREF="msg00291.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD Design doc - Combat</A></strong>,
Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#oldzoom,bga.com">cat#oldzoom,bga.com</a>, Tue 26 Jan 1999, 20:57 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>