December 1997
- Vague: Containers Ling
- Forests, swamps, terrain & web ecology (long) Ling
- Forests, swamps, terrain & web ecology (long) coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Brandon J. Rickman
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Chris Gray
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Chris Gray
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Marian Griffith
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Marian Griffith
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Matt Chatterley
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Sauron
- BUILDERS: Ferries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- BUILDERS: Ferries Mike Sellers
- BUILDERS: Ferries Adam Wiggins
- BUILDERS: Ferries Ling
- BUILDERS: Ferries Jon A. Lambert
- BUILDERS: Ferries Chris Gray
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Jon A. Lambert
- BUILDERS: Ferries Derrick Jones
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- BUILDERS: Ferries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- BUILDERS: Ferries Vadim Tkachenko
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- Alignment Vadim Tkachenko
- Status visualization Was: UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: forests and such Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- OT: forests and such Chris Gray
- Seminal Designs, WAS: Alignment Koster, Raph
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries (HTML) Ling
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Richard Woolcock
- OT: News from the front Matt Chatterley
- OT: News from the front Mike Sellers
- OT: News from the front Chris Gray
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: News from the front Marian Griffith
- OT: News from the front Sauron
- OT: News from the front Nathan Yospe
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Richard Woolcock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Felix A. Croes
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Felix A. Croes
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Vadim Tkachenko
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Richard Woolcock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Travis S. Casey
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Greg Munt
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Chris Gray
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Michael Hohensee
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Vadim Tkachenko
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Maddy
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Adam Wiggins
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Maddy
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Derrick Jones
- Guilds & Politics Maddy
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Sauron
- Guilds & Politics Marian Griffith
- Guilds & Politics Jon A. Lambert
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics coder@ibm.net
- World Design Jon A. Lambert
- Jerks (was ) Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World] Mike Sellers
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Stephen Zepp
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Stephen Zepp
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] coder@ibm.net
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Mike Sellers
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Stephen Zepp
- Rats, pests and FAQ. Ling
- Rats, pests and FAQ. coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Mike Sellers
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Vadim Tkachenko
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Mike Sellers
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Marian Griffith
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Chris Gray
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- now, prestige, Karma, and alignment Guilds & Politics Mike Sellers
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Jon A. Lambert
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Richard Woolcock
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Stephen Zepp
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Jon A. Lambert
- Server design (was: meta-something) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Sauron
- Guilds & Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ: location Sauron
- META: FAQ: location Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ: location Miroslav Silovic
- META: FAQ: location Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: location Mike Sellers
- META: FAQ: location Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ: location Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ: location Jon Leonard
- META: FAQ: location Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: location Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: location Derrick Jones
- META: FAQ: location Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Richard Woolcock
- OT: Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World] Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: Era of the Nerd (forwarded) Adam Wiggins
- OT: Books Adam Wiggins
- OT: Books Koster, Raph
- OT: Books Mike Sellers
- OT: Books Nathan Yospe
- OT: Books s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- OT: Books Chris Gray
- OT: Books coder@ibm.net
- OT: Books coder@ibm.net
- OT: Books Mike Sellers
- Is mud research real? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Is mud research real? Koster, Raph
- Alignment...an old view Derrick Jones
- Jerks (me) Ling
- LIST: Forced unsubscriptions due to persistant bounces coder@ibm.net
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Brandon Cline
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Jon A. Lambert
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Chris Gray
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Stephen Zepp
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Adam Wiggins
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Marian Griffith
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Jon A. Lambert
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Matt Chatterley
- Gods, worshipers and the balance coder@ibm.net
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Richard Woolcock
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Richard Woolcock
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Maddy
- META: FAQ: Location, etc s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Sauron
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Richard Woolcock
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ: location Chris Gray
- Crowds and Recognition (Was: Introductions and ) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: what's with these vcard.vcf attachments? Alex Oren
- META: what's with these vcard.vcf attachments? Vadim Tkachenko
- Describe module Stephen Zepp
- Describe module Vadim Tkachenko
- Seems rather quiet Stephen Zepp
- Seems rather quiet coder@ibm.net
- I live over there! coder@ibm.net
- LIST: Now back on the air coder@ibm.net
- Circumstances & Situations Ling
- Circumstances & Situations Richard Woolcock
- Circumstances & Situations Ling
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Nathan Yospe
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Marian Griffith
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Richard Woolcock
- Circumstances & Situations coder@ibm.net
- Circumstances & Situations JC Lawrence
- Circumstances & Situations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Circumstances & Situations JC Lawrence
- Circumstances & Situations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: nospam in email addresses coder@ibm.net
- OT: My Web Page Jon A. Lambert
- Mail from mud Stephen Zepp
- Mail from mud Richard Woolcock
- Mail from mud Miroslav Silovic
- Mail from mud Brandon Gillespie
- Mail from mud Vadim Tkachenko
- Mail from mud Chris Gray
- FAQ: Personality Clash Ling
- FAQ: Personality Clash Sauron
- FAQ: Personality Clash Marian Griffith
- FAQ: Personality Clash Greg Munt
- FAQ: Personality Clash s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- FAQ: Personality Clash JC Lawrence
- FAQ: Personality Clash Koster, Raph
- FYI: Playing God, Creating Virtual Worlds Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: loss of information control Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- OT: loss of information control Jon A. Lambert
- OT: loss of information control JC Lawrence
- OT: loss of information control Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Mail from mud Update :) Stephen Zepp
- Mail from mud Update :) Vadim Tkachenko
- Mail from mud Update :) Richard Woolcock
- Mail from mud Update :) JC Lawrence
- Mail from mud Update :) Shawn Halpenny
- FAQ: Personality Clash - extra Server Design info included Reed Copsey, Jr.
- OT: Merry Christmas Kris Kringle
- OT: Merry Christmas Matt Chatterley
- The impact of the web on muds Greg Munt
- The impact of the web on muds ##Make Nylander
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds ##Make Nylander
- The impact of the web on muds Matt Chatterley
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Richard Woolcock
- The impact of the web on muds Nathan Yospe
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Ling
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon Cline
- The impact of the web on muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Shawn Halpenny
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Jon A. Lambert
- The impact of the web on muds Adam Wiggins
- The impact of the web on muds Greg Munt
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Jon A. Lambert
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Koster, Raph
- The impact of the web on muds Vadim Tkachenko
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds JC Lawrence
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The impact of the web on muds JC Lawrence
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon Cline
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Miroslav Silovic
- MUD Development Digest Dr. Cat
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, JC vs Z :) ) ( was Wild west ) Stephen Zepp
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, JC vs Z :) ) ( Jon A. Lambert
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR THE COUNT! :) ) Stephen Zepp
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR THE COUNT! :) ) Michael Hohensee
- Attributions vs brainstorming coder@ibm.net
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] JC Lawrence
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] JC Lawrence
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR TH Jon A. Lambert
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Task Parsing Greg Munt
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Task Parsing Nathan Yospe
- Task Parsing JC Lawrence
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Mud Settings Greg Munt
- Mud Settings Jon A. Lambert
- Mud Settings Greg Munt
- Mud Settings Ling
- Mud Settings Stephen Zepp
- Mud Settings Vadim Tkachenko
- Mud Settings Marian Griffith
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- Mud Settings Travis Casey
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- Mud Settings Travis Casey
- Mud Settings Mike Sellers
- Mud Settings Matt Chatterley
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- UO's External Chat Programs [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- UO's External Chat Programs [was 'Wild west'] Koster, Raph
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Time travel and Logging Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Time travel and Logging Ling
- Time travel and Logging Koster, Raph
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Task Parsing (repost for format) Stephen Zepp
- AI Nodes (was: Attributions vs brainstorming ...) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- AI Nodes (was: Attributions vs brainstorming ...) Jon A. Lambert
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Jon A. Lambert
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
- Commercial value of RP Brandon Cline
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
Brandon Cline <brandon@sedona.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 31 Dec 1997, Travis Casey wrote:
>> I believe that any well-designed, realistic mud will make a good
>> environment for roleplaying. To explain why, let me first give my
>> definition of roleplaying:
>>
>> Making decisions about how your character will act based on the
>> character's personality, rather than on such bases as what will give
>> the most advantage in the game or what must be done to win the game.
[further explanation cut]
>Not to repeat JCL's point, but using Travis's opinion of
>what "role-playing" is, is "that" a viable comercial pursuit? The
>comercial RPG games atm, seem to have the ability for "role-playing" but
>in a competitive game, where possibly the players are paying by usage, or
>advancing through time spent, are they going to be willing to put forth
>the extra effort to "role-play" and/or is/will the game reward the players
>for role-playing? Basically, if the game can be played without
>role-playing, how will you get the people to role-play. Also, if not
>everyone is willing to role-play, how do you keep the ones that don't from
>detracting from other peoples ability to role-play within the environment?
>
> In approach to some of those questions, I agree that first off, a
>realistic and well designed, interactive world/environment is a must,
>either that or a very flexible world structure like some of the Mush/muse
>etc bases.
Personally, I doubt that many people on a commercial mud are going to
roleplay much, if at all. IMHO, most of the players are probably never
going to have been exposed to muds before, most will never have played
paper RPGs, and even those who have experience with muds or paper RPGs
won't have actually roleplayed (using my definition from above) in them.
The majority of players will (again IMHO) be familiar with the concept
of an "RPG" only through single-player computer "RPGs" -- most of which
do not encourage or even allow roleplaying. They'll be used to games
where the emphasis is on finding the right way to accomplish the goal,
not on choosing goals for your character.
This doesn't, however, mean that all hope is lost. You can encourage
and enforce roleplaying in many ways. A few that spring to mind:
- Limit information. Even experienced roleplayers often have trouble
keeping "what the player knows" separate from "what the character
knows." It's possible to move some responsibility for this separation
onto the mud itself -- e.g., by having "recognition" routines which
give names for people the character knows, but only descriptions for
people the character doesn't know. You can also limit how much
information players have about the exact abilities of their characters
and their equipment, and limit the amount of information you give
about the game system -- the idea being to force players to build an
idea of what their characters can and can't do through experience
rather than by an analysis of the rules.
Naturally, you'll never achieve *perfect* player/character "firewalling"
through this sort of thing, but it can help.
- Try to keep things "realistic". If the game world works like a real
world, players can make judgements based on "what would really work"
and have confidence in them. If it doesn't, then players are reduced
to trying to figure out the rules and "work" them.
Note that this means it's difficult to get people to roleplay in
"silly" games. I'm not saying that it can't be done... just that
it's harder.
- Allow players to choose their own goals. Many games are designed with
the idea in mind that players *will* do certain things, with no thought
given to whether those things are logical. A classic example is giving
out experience points for killing monsters and nothing else -- such a
system strongly militates against anyone choosing to play a non-violent
character.
Under my definition of roleplaying, you really *must* allow players
to choose their own goals for their characters in order to allow
roleplaying -- if the players must pursue certain goals, you're
limiting their freedom to choose their characters' actions in
accordance with the personality they've defined.
This leads naturally into the next point...
- Remember that players will do what they're rewarded for doing. On a
mud in which the best rewards are available by killing monsters, players
will kill monsters. If the best rewards are available by killing other
players' characters, the players will do so. This is really the last
point taking a different form -- if players can choose their own goals,
but can only be rewarded for a few of the possible goals, the choice
becomes somewhat moot.
[Aside: this is why I like advance-through-use skill systems. They
allow the player to choose goals (which, if any, skills they want their
characters to be good at) and reward them for pursuing those goals
(advance the skills which the character uses most often).]
- Lead by example. Create one or more characters of your own and roleplay
it/them on the mud.
Basically, if roleplaying is your goal, keep it in mind as you design and
build the mud. Consider changes on the basis of how well they will
support and encourage roleplaying.
One last comment... many people talk about rewarding roleplaying by
giving out experience points or other in-game rewards for it. Personally,
I think this is a bad idea, on two counts:
1 - It encourages certain types of roleplaying over others. In order
to be rewarded for roleplaying, it's necessary for one's roleplaying
to be *noticed* -- which means that players who wish to play shy or
taciturn characters are at a disadvantage.
2 - Judging the quality of someone's roleplaying is iffy at best. It
ultimately comes down to the judge's idea of what the player's
character is like vs. the player's idea -- if the judge's and the
player's ideas are close, the judge will likely think the player
roleplays well. If their ideas differ, however, the judge is
likely to think that the player is roleplaying poorly -- when it
may be that the judge simply doesn't have a good understanding of
the player's conception of the character.
--
|\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel@io.com>
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' rec.games.design FAQ:
'---''(_/--' `-'\_) http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html - Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Miroslav Silovic
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Jon A. Lambert
- Commercial value of RP Ling
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP Vadim Tkachenko
- Commercial value of RP Chris Gray
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Raph & Kristen Koster
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Miroslav Silovic
- Commercial value of RP Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- OT: Mud Settings Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: Mud Settings Travis Casey
- FAQ: Personalities Ling
- FAQ: Personalities coder@ibm.net