25 Jul, 2009, Brinson wrote in the 1st comment:
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Most roleplay muds have a unified theme. You log on, and you are in that world. This seems to have become the standard for all muds, but while working my ass off on the night shift, I had an idea. What if you could log into a mud, browse through a list of player generated worlds, and then enter one? Switch from a harry potter themed mud, to dragonlance, to LOTR, to Star Wars, all in a few seconds.

Obviously, global automated systems would have to be bare minimum in order to support a system like this. It would obviously be an RPI style mud.

My idea is to use the MOO codebase, given how easy it is to code. When you enter someone's world, though, you lose your programmer's bit, and can no longer script or code. Several values, such as your money, health, etc, are reset upon entry into the world, and then the world's owner can use their own script and code to manage that. In addition, there will be various "blank" variables that are set to zero, allowing you to use them as you see fit.

I wrote a system over a year ago which stored multiple "personas" on one account. A command lets you morph from one to the other. I could adapt these to carry these values along with you, so your money and such stays current on each persona, but separately.

Any thoughts?
25 Jul, 2009, Sandi wrote in the 2nd comment:
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I had a MUSH once called Ruby Light. It was set in Maine, or actually, on a small island off the coast of Maine, as Kodak had a center there for digital imaging. The name was a play on words: there was a lighthouse on the island with a red light, but 'ruby light' could also refer to lasers. The idea was that holographic 3D movies had been invented, but due to restrictive licensing, instead of Hollywood stepping in, they had become the plaything of the rich, similar to photography and movie making in the late 1800's. So, there was this mansion on the island, and people could go there with ideas and scripts, and have holographic shows produced by rich dilettantes.

In other words, players were welcome to show up with themes and plots, and a "set" would be built, and then other players could play actors, acting in as many "shows" as they had time for. So, each player would have an 'actor' and/or 'director' persona who would live a life on the mainland/island, then have other personas as a member of the various shows.

About the time it was "done", instead of promoting it I switched to ROM, alas. I still think it was a cool idea. Hmmmm… I still have the flatfile, I can put it up if you're interested.
25 Jul, 2009, Chris Bailey wrote in the 3rd comment:
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This is completely off topic but I don't understand what you did in the game you mentioned. Would you mind explaining "Ruby Light" in more detail? Another thread perhaps? =)
25 Jul, 2009, Igabod wrote in the 4th comment:
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I think I can explain it in a few words. Players would submit ideas to the other players for a movie, which the players would then act out. It's like RP within RP sorta. Very interesting idea.
26 Jul, 2009, Sandi wrote in the 5th comment:
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Yep, Igabod's got it. And that's how it relates to Brinson's idea - sort of a RP frontend for having several themes you can switch between. It's intended for pure RP, where everything is consensual, thus, the code required would be minimal. Still, with a MUSH's zones, each project could have their own code if it was required.
26 Jul, 2009, Runter wrote in the 6th comment:
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I'm curious if you can have competitive play in games where everything must be agreed upon or consensual? Who RPs the most believably wins? :P
26 Jul, 2009, Sandi wrote in the 7th comment:
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Sort of, yeh. It's who comes up with the most favorable-to-themselves, believable, plot twist that the GMs will accept. While in theory it's a 'safe' way to play, it's still very competitive, perhaps more so than the dice games, it's just more like going up against a lawyer than a gambler. :)
26 Jul, 2009, Runter wrote in the 8th comment:
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Sandi said:
it's just more like going up against a lawyer than a gambler. :)


Meh, I disagree with that analogy. Just not enough to properly dispute it. :P
26 Jul, 2009, Chris Bailey wrote in the 9th comment:
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I still don't fully understand. Does the game have any sort of advancement? Everything is determined by peer review? I haven't played any RPI games before.
26 Jul, 2009, Runter wrote in the 10th comment:
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Chris Bailey said:
I still don't fully understand. Does the game have any sort of advancement? Everything is determined by peer review? I haven't played any RPI games before.


I don't think in most RPI's they determine everything by peer review. I'm sure there are some that do, though. I seem to remember a game ran by Robert years ago that was. Or at least largely.
26 Jul, 2009, quixadhal wrote in the 11th comment:
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For a great example of competitive writing with agreed-upon rules, check out the "Thieves' Wo... series of novels.

Great stuff. All the guest authors are free to write whatever stories they want, in the same shared world, co-opting one another's characters and ideas. I think the only hard-and-fast rule was that you had to ask if you wanted to kill someone's character off. :)
26 Jul, 2009, Chris Bailey wrote in the 12th comment:
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Well that sounds pretty interesting. I just have a difficult time viewing it as a game?
26 Jul, 2009, Idealiad wrote in the 13th comment:
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It's no less a game than kids playing cowboys and indians. Though to be fair most RP mushes don't let you control other people's characters (Thieves World is an awesome series, it would be a cool game where you couldrun other people's characters).
26 Jul, 2009, David Haley wrote in the 14th comment:
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Switching between worlds sounds like the kind of thing that Jypsy Shah would love… wasn't that kind of what his idea was all about? Being "mercenaries" across worlds or something…
26 Jul, 2009, Chris Bailey wrote in the 15th comment:
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Hey I remember that whole thread!
26 Jul, 2009, Tyche wrote in the 16th comment:
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Chris Bailey said:
I still don't fully understand. Does the game have any sort of advancement? Everything is determined by peer review? I haven't played any RPI games before.


RPI muds are a tiny subset
of muds that implement role-playing games.
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