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<H1>[MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "S. Patrick Gallaty" <<A HREF="mailto:choke#sirius,com">choke#sirius,com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:07:44 -0700</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>
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<TABLE><TR><TD BGCOLOR="#c0c0c0" STYLE="background-color: #c0c0c0; ">
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>This is a tangent topic to a thread started by
raph and going on with the EQ designers on mud-dev.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>One of the design failures IMO in everquest is
that it follows the old 'weaponcode' model of weapon damage. I.e. one hits
for the 'max damage' of the weapon rather than any sort of measure of player
skill. This means the weapon is tantamount. Nothing matters except
for the weapon stats, in the end. With armor the same way, you have
created a game where heavy twinking is inevitable. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>I'll throw out an alternative system here, and
let you guys kick it around. We did something like this on EOTL, but I
think it could have been better. The best system I have seen was on the
shattered worlds mudlib, all praise Dredd!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The basic idea is to have weapon archetypes, and
then bonuses. The bonuses reflect magical power, fine weapons,
artifacts. The limitation to twinking here is that a poor player won't be
able to exploit the benefits of more powerful weapons such that each weapon
would have several factors (speed, damage, weight, accuracy) and
modifiers. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Your basic rusty newbie weapon might be
(-speed,--damage,-accuracy), and that newbie would benefit from a weapon with no
minuses. however a (+speed, +damage) weapon would not benefit them since
at their _skill_ level they cannot exploit the bonuses.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The other bonus of such a system is you have a
single clear metric for balancing reward. The total bonus of a weapon
should be exponentially linked to the rarity. With such a clear
metric, there's no doubt in the designer's mind when they give an 'orc' a weapon
with a total bonus of (3).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Likewise armor needs to be balanced vs. player
skills. If you put the finest platemail on a totally inexperienced
fighter, giving them the same protection as a trained warrior devalues the
effort of training that warrior. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>So, in sum, I see this issue as one of
affordances. We create the system that enables twinking. It wouldn't
be an issue if the game didn't reward it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<li><strong><A NAME="00488" HREF="msg00488.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Travis S. Casey" <efindel@io.com></li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Massive Connections</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00483" HREF="msg00483.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Massive Connections</A></strong>,
Kevin Scott London <a href="mailto:london@cs.utk.edu">london@cs.utk.edu</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 02:52 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00484" HREF="msg00484.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Massive Connections</A></strong>,
Christopher Kohnert <a href="mailto:cjkohner@mail.uccs.edu">cjkohner@mail.uccs.edu</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 03:30 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00486" HREF="msg00486.html">[MUD-Dev] [Mud-Dev]: Sushi Mud</A></strong>,
Todd McKimmey <a href="mailto:rufus@wombatgames.com">rufus@wombatgames.com</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 22:08 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00478" HREF="msg00478.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Database back ends</A></strong>,
Kevin Littlejohn <a href="mailto:darius@connect.com.au">darius@connect.com.au</a>, Wed 19 Apr 2000, 23:15 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00468" HREF="msg00468.html">[MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>,
S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke@sirius.com">choke@sirius.com</a>, Wed 19 Apr 2000, 18:55 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00488" HREF="msg00488.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>,
Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel@io.com">efindel@io.com</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 22:08 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00480" HREF="msg00480.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>,
jolson <a href="mailto:jolson@micron.net">jolson@micron.net</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 00:09 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00482" HREF="msg00482.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>,
adam <a href="mailto:adam@treyarch.com">adam@treyarch.com</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 01:34 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00487" HREF="msg00487.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] defeating twinking through game mechanics</A></strong>,
S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke@sirius.com">choke@sirius.com</a>, Thu 20 Apr 2000, 22:08 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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