<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills --> <!--X-From-R13: "Qnyvona Fverfvnf Rnexybpx" <pnyvonaNqnexybpx.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 16:19:18 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 015801be40e5$505838c0$55e5edd0@dev-18.chilisoft.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: Levels versus Skills</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:caliban#darklock,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="msg00196.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00198.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00211.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00198.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00197">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00197">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00197">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</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: Levels versus Skills</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Caliban Tiresias Darklock" <<A HREF="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 16:14:48 -0800</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: Marian Griffith <gryphon#iaehv,nl> To: Mud Dev Mailing list <mud-dev#kanga,nu> Date: Friday, January 15, 1999 3:19 PM Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills >On Fri 15 Jan, J C Lawrence wrote: >> On Wed, 13 Jan 1999 17:32:35 -0600 > >> Koster, Raph<rkoster#origin,ea.com> wrote: > >> >> From: Marian Griffith > >> 1) Keep growing the game so that there is always room for the >> inflationary sprial to grow into. This means that the requirements >> for the top levels of advancement must recede (become more >> difficult) for the base player base at the same rate that the base >> player base approaches them. > >If I understand what you are saying then I think this is *most* >unkind to new players. Not if the new player is presented with a character which resides at or around the same level as the baseline. I am working on something like this; literally, using the existing mean as a template for new players. If everyone and his brother carries a battle axe when he started with a sword, then a guy with a sword is *probably* at a disadvantage. The server should recognise that new players need to be competitive with existing players, and adjust. How to do this *fairly* is still at issue. ;) >> 2) Something must devalue accumulated value (levels etc) such that >> players ever fall down the ladder and thus retain something to >> climb. > >Would it not be possible to shift players individually up and >down the ladder, rather than all players at the same time, or >is that what you are saying? One of the "enhancements" to my rewrite of the AD&D rules was to make experience points something you could spend. Certain things actually cost experience, and once you used experience to acquire your level it was considered "gone". The primary focus of this was spells, as it seemed reasonably unfair that a mage could gather up several dozen scrolls and just learn a bunch of spells. (The time expense was NOT working, as players universally handwaved it: "I study scrolls for three years." "We wait for him.") In compensation, the concept of the spell book and spell memorization was discarded; you had fewer spells and a lower level in the end, but a great deal more flexibility. Arguably, this was a positive change, provided you saved the good news for last when you told the players about it. Players have detested spell books for so long, just tack that onto the end of all your bad news and they get happy: "Your characters all have leprosy. You are slaves of the emperor and must perform for his amusement. He is mainly amused by watching lepers burned at the stake. But you don't need spell books!" ;) >> The principle remains the same however, the game >> is regeared to put everybody back at ground zero -- just without >> making them feel that they've lost in the process (concentrate on >> the new race/game instead of what is lost). My game *resets*. You specifically set up your configuration, and nothing happens until you apply it. Each zone can be reset individually, or the entire game can be. When a specific zone is reset, all players in that zone get shoved into another one. Anything they own in that zone is lost. But... now there's virgin territory. Zones can get "played out" over time, if players spend a lot of time there; enemy regeneration is limited by existing power level, so if the enemy is sent packing often enough he will eventually dwindle into obscurity. Likewise, if players *ignore* the enemy, he will eventually snowball into an unstoppable force that will steamroll through the universe like a vast engine of doom, leaving nothing survive in his wake. Both situations are Bad and require a reset. This is a legacy problem, and one which I am still deciding whether to maintain. There are good points. | Caliban Tiresias Darklock caliban#darklock,com | Darklock Communications <A HREF="http://www.darklock.com/">http://www.darklock.com/</A> | 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=- </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="00199" HREF="msg00199.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00198" HREF="msg00198.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Petri Virkkula <pvirkkul#iki,fi></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00196.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00198.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00211.html">[MUD-Dev] From Devmud: Database module, draft 3</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00198.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00197"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00197"><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><A NAME="00220" HREF="msg00220.html">[MUD-Dev] ADMIN: List server and Kanga.Nu host changes</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#kanga,nu">claw#kanga,nu</a>, Wed 20 Jan 1999, 05:31 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00216" HREF="msg00216.html">[MUD-Dev] Matrix Game</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Mon 18 Jan 1999, 11:59 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00214" HREF="msg00214.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Reputations, More Mazes</A></strong>, Eli Stevens (KiZurich) <a href="mailto:c718157#showme,missouri.edu">c718157#showme,missouri.edu</a>, Sun 17 Jan 1999, 09:26 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00211" HREF="msg00211.html">[MUD-Dev] From Devmud: Database module, draft 3</A></strong>, Greg Connor <a href="mailto:gconnor#nekodojo,org">gconnor#nekodojo,org</a>, Sun 17 Jan 1999, 02:35 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00197" HREF="msg00197.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Sat 16 Jan 1999, 00:19 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00198" HREF="msg00198.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong>, Petri Virkkula <a href="mailto:pvirkkul#iki,fi">pvirkkul#iki,fi</a>, Sat 16 Jan 1999, 01:16 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00199" HREF="msg00199.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Sat 16 Jan 1999, 03:27 GMT </LI> </UL> <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00204" HREF="msg00204.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong>, quzah [softhome] <a href="mailto:quzah#softhome,net">quzah#softhome,net</a>, Sat 16 Jan 1999, 05:59 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00219" HREF="msg00219.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Tue 19 Jan 1999, 00:33 GMT </LI> </UL> </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>