[MUD-Dev] Mud-time vs real-time (was Re: skill system)

[Mike Sellers <mike#bignetwork,com>]

At 09:37 PM 6/11/98 -0700, Richard Woolcock wrote:
>... if you were bullied as a kid, how would you feel if you
>met that bully again as an adult?  What if said bully was still far bigger
>and meaner than you?  Perhaps it could store the fact that you hadn't fought
>him for a certain amount of time (I might use 3 bits, giving a number of
>real-life days between 0 and 7 since you had last fought them - 7 days = 1
>mud year, which would be a reasonable maximum).  

This sparked a thought in me I haven't seen dealth with here: does anyone
keep a real and meaningful tally of long-term time going by?  For example,
if you said 1 month = 1 mud year (1 week/mud year seems a bit short to me),
you could fairly easily make adjustments for aging, skill aquisition and
atrophy, and even crop cycles, building maintenance, etc.  It'd make
anti-aging potions powerful, and give players reasons to let their old
(literally) character die and move on to another one.  

Hmmm.  At 10 days to the mud year, you'd age 3 years/month or thereabouts,
and 36 years per real year.  So an un-enhanced character _might_ have a
lifespan of 1-2 real years (say average starting age of ~20) if human --
other races could vary wildly from this.  

Thoughts?  Who's tried this in any serious way?  What are some of the
downsides to doing something like this?

--

Mike Sellers       Chief Creative Officer       The Big Network
mike#bignetwork,com                  
<http://www.bignetwork.com/>http://www.bignetwork.com

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