[MUD-Dev] Re: More Laws, was Re: DIS: Client-Server vs Peer-to-Peer

["Koster, Raph" <rkoster#origin,ea.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ola Fosheim Grøstad [mailto:olag#ifi,uio.no]
> Sent: Friday, December 18, 1998 4:44 PM
> To: mud-dev#kanga,nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: More Laws, was Re: DIS: Client-Server vs
> Peer-to-Peer
> 
> 
> "Koster, Raph" wrote:
> 
> > "It's generally a bad idea to add in features designed to 
> keep players
> > from playing together."
> 
> Approx. Bartle's bad idea #4. Although I think his one is 
> more or less like
> this: It is a bad idea to build a MUD on a concept in which 
> the goal is
> easier to achieve by not talking/socializing.

Yeah, simialr, though I think Richard's is actually broader in scope. I
actually often use the above as an argument against having a highly
restrictive PK switch system in a game. If it reaches the point where
people are prevented from forming groups that cross the PK-switch
divide, then it is actually hampering player interaction (ex: PvP-off
player not allowed to group with PvP-on player, or not allowed to heal
him, etc).

> > "Caveat: unless they are features that reinforce identity 
> of the player
> > or his group as separate from others (such as secret languages)."
> >
> 
> Hmm.. Does this keep players from playing together?  Is there any
> experiences with this? In some (noncommercial) games I think 
> it does. The
> ones where monster-players only speak a language which is 
> incompatible with
> hereos, but that is perhaps somewhat too hardcore RP...

That is the kind of thing I was getting at. If you have player languages
and DON'T have a "common" tongue, then groups that might be desirable
(elves & humans) won't form because of the language barrier, even though
it might be desirable. Another good example might be vampires. If you
make a vampire type that cannot hang out in the tavern, can't be out in
the sun, and is otherwise a total pain in the ass to play with your
non-vamp friends, then it's probbaly detrimental--unless being a vampire
is something totally cool that provides a real sense of identity,
ideally with whole vamp families and the like, which can provide a
strong built-in community precisely *because* the group is more
isolated.

-Raph