<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd) --> <!--X-From-R13: X Q Znjerapr <pynjNpc.arg> --> <!--X-Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 15:33:56 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: E11v7dh-0002zm-00@under.eng.cp.net --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: E11qn7h-0000xZ-00@under.eng.cp.net --> <!--X-Reference: 383DBAE0.EF5C976C@attglobal.net --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:claw@cp.net"> </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="msg00529.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00531.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00508.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00532.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00530">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00530">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00530">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</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>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd) </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: J C Lawrence <<A HREF="mailto:claw#cp,net">claw#cp,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 15:33:53 -0800</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#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 Thu, 25 Nov 1999 21:40:32 +0000 Mik Clarke <mikclrk#attglobal,net> wrote: >> From: JB, aka Tempus <jbbeabNOjbSPAM#primary,net.invalid> >> - Scenario A - >> >> Ok...so after the player enters, a battle ensues. The player, >> without having an opportunity to flee is forced into combat with >> a mobile that is potentially significantly tougher than the >> player can handle. >> >> What are your thoughts on the above described scenario? > Unfair. Players deserve some sort of warning that they are > getting into hot water. You imply that there is a social contract between the game designer and the player. I don't disagree, but I see the central argument as more philosphical than one of contracts and (naive?) expectations: Are we as game designers responsible for taking (or at least offering ans semi-signposting) our guests (players) on a disney-esque tour of our game world, all sound and fury but with no (or few) actual threats, or do we offer an environment which may contain dangers, and then let the players excercise Darwinian mechanics in working thru it? Tour tour-guide or sink-or-swim? The idea that the game world (or game designer for that matter) is going to come up to me prior to every "dangerous" section and warn me off (however subtlely), or ensure that I can never trap myself without a means of escape is somehow deeply offensive. I just watched a chap play thru Quake II. The fact that the game loaded the player up with health, armour, and weaponry immediately prior to almost every tough opponents was more than annoying. It killed all surprise. All shock. All sense of actual concern for what the game world might wreak. "Life isn't always fair. Deal with it." We've all heard the line. How true is that for our players? At what point does our role as world designers change from hand-holding tour guide to protagonist? > It doesn't have to be explicit and certainly shouldn't be 'out of > world', but there should be a warning of some sorts (maybe an old > man who advises the unready to trun back). So, the wandering Bands of Bubba, nasty headhunting brain bashing villains that they are, have been magically transported into the Village of Rue by a wayward wizard, and, just happen to meet up with their dire enemies, Boffo's Brutes who are enjoying a spot of pie at the local pub after losing their way due to a disorientation spell. Of course a battle royal ensues across the tradionally tranquial streets and squares of Rue, that utopian dream of bucolic simplicity, and our young newbie, knowing nothing of this, walks into the middle of the fray, finds himself lost and both a head shorter and dead, tho possibly not in that order. Shuld, upon the instance of that battle, a surrounding circle of beggers and grizzledold men uttering warnings of dangers ahead suddenly spring into existance surrounding the village? Again, is the game there to provide a carefully guaged and vicarious tour for the player, or is it there to provide a logically consistent reality for the player to deduce and seduce into survivability? > Without the warning you're back to lottery role playing. Players > need enough information to make sensible decisions (and the GM has > a responsability to give the players a fighting chance). And in the above scenario, what is the GM's responsibility? The GM is ultimately responsible for the game world that supports Bubba, Boffo and their gains, the magic that put them where they are, amd evem the AI's that led them down the garden path once they were in Rue. Is the GM responsible for the player's safety, or is he merely responsible for ensuring that the player is at least capable of educating himself to a point that they have a good chance of surviving and even prospering even in the general case, but are not specifically responsible for the specific cases players may find themselves in? Is this a game of statistics where you are concerned with the broad trends across classes and groups of players, or are you concerned with the specific experiences of individuals? -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#kanga,nu ----------(*) Internet: coder#kanga,nu ...Honorary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </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="00548" HREF="msg00548.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Mik Clarke <mikclrk@attglobal.net></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00533" HREF="msg00533.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Richard Ross" <rross@rross.eurobell.co.uk></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00532" HREF="msg00532.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Matthew Mihaly <diablo@best.com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00502" HREF="msg00502.html">[MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> J C Lawrence <claw@cp.net></LI></UL></LI> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00508" HREF="msg00508.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Mik Clarke <mikclrk@attglobal.net></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00529.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Neural Networks as the AI system for a MUD?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00531.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00508.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00532.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00530"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00530"><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="00510" HREF="msg00510.html">[MUD-Dev] (fwd) Re: Artificial Language for MUD programmers</A></strong>, claw <a href="mailto:claw@kanga.nu">claw@kanga.nu</a>, Fri 26 Nov 1999, 19:06 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00503" HREF="msg00503.html">[MUD-Dev] volunteerism on muds (fwd)</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw@cp.net">claw@cp.net</a>, Thu 25 Nov 1999, 01:47 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00502" HREF="msg00502.html">[MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw@cp.net">claw@cp.net</a>, Thu 25 Nov 1999, 00:51 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00508" HREF="msg00508.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, Mik Clarke <a href="mailto:mikclrk@attglobal.net">mikclrk@attglobal.net</a>, Thu 25 Nov 1999, 21:41 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00530" HREF="msg00530.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw@cp.net">claw@cp.net</a>, Mon 06 Dec 1999, 23:33 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00532" HREF="msg00532.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo@best.com">diablo@best.com</a>, Tue 07 Dec 1999, 00:27 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00533" HREF="msg00533.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, Richard Ross <a href="mailto:rross@rross.eurobell.co.uk">rross@rross.eurobell.co.uk</a>, Tue 07 Dec 1999, 00:27 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00548" HREF="msg00548.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, Mik Clarke <a href="mailto:mikclrk@attglobal.net">mikclrk@attglobal.net</a>, Wed 08 Dec 1999, 21:22 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00551" HREF="msg00551.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo@best.com">diablo@best.com</a>, Wed 08 Dec 1999, 21:48 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </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>