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<H1>RE: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: RE: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ] </LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 12:00:14 -0500</LI>
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<PRE>
On Wed 4/8/98 JCL said:
> True. An idea I've been playing with for a while now for more
> "typical: MUDS is the idea that the character as a net whole never
> changes, but that the balance of allocation of stats changes.
>
> Possibly the simplest example:
> The initially create character has almost no strength, but
enourmous
> endurance.
> Given hard woork and sufficient "development" the character now
has
> enourmous strength, but is exhausted within seconds...
>
> Other models are easy to come up with, and pose some intersting
> challenges. (Note: This is a variation on the sum-zero particle
> economy I use).
This is the heart of the UO skill system. It leads to very interesting
stuff.
1) You have to intelligently pick what goes down when a given thing
goes up. There's lots of methods to do this.
2) Boy did we have problems by combining a usage-based system with
this. :) Everyone screams when something they don't use goes down!
3) It solved the problem of the fixed-size scale for advancement, but
raised the issue of limited advancement. Just today I was discussing
with someone how power (meaning, greater ability at things you already
do, such as more hit points) and advancement are traditionally tied in
games, when really what works better is possibility (meaning, access
to a wider array of capability) and "ownership" in the game as a means
of measuring status. So UO went the route of having a LOT of different
things to do,a nd the ability to gather hirelings, pets, houses,
guilds, etc, to provide the sense of status, in place of "level" as an
abstraction. Now, level is awfully convenient, and players quickly
found supplements for it, but I find that severing the advancement
scale from character ability works quite well.
-Raph
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<li><strong><A NAME="00163" HREF="msg00163.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com></li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00179" HREF="msg00179.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 15 Apr 1998, 16:50 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00187" HREF="msg00187.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 02:07 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00205" HREF="msg00205.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Fri 17 Apr 1998, 14:24 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00489" HREF="msg00489.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 22 Apr 1998, 18:20 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00093" HREF="msg00093.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 09 Apr 1998, 17:00 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00163" HREF="msg00163.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 15 Apr 1998, 00:13 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00203" HREF="msg00203.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 22:50 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00204" HREF="msg00204.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Character development [was Re: ]</A></strong>,
Alex Bertoglio <a href="mailto:alexb#internetcds,com">alexb#internetcds,com</a>, Fri 17 Apr 1998, 04:24 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00024" HREF="msg00024.html">caved in: Algorithms for for storing free space.</A></strong>,
Ben Greear <a href="mailto:greear#cyberhighway,net">greear#cyberhighway,net</a>, Sun 05 Apr 1998, 02:31 GMT
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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