July 1999
- ScryMUD release v1.9.10. Ben Greear
- In-game tailors, re-stringers, etc. Eli Stevens {KiZurich/GreySylk}
- In-game tailors, re-stringers, etc. Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- An apology J C Lawrence
- GM Touring Company Ling
- GM Touring Company Matthew Mihaly
- GM Touring Company Ling
- GM Touring Company Matthew Mihaly
- GM Touring Company Christopher Allen - GM Fangs
- GM Touring Company Marian Griffith
- GM Touring Company Alex Oren
- GM Touring Company Christopher Allen
- list of MUD platforms? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- list of MUD platforms? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- list of MUD platforms? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- list of MUD platforms? Ross Nicoll
- list of MUD platforms? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- list of MUD platforms? Christopher Allen
- list of MUD platforms? Ben Greear
- list of MUD platforms? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- list of MUD platforms? Jon A. Lambert
- list of MUD platforms? Ross Nicoll
- list of MUD platforms? Mik Clarke
- ScryMUD 1.9.11 is now on my page and in CVS. Ben Greear
- Technical programming question (circular buffers & logging) Ben Greear
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Willowreed@aol.com
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Ben Greear
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Willowreed@aol.com
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Christopher Allen - GM Fangs
- an idea..wondering if this has been done David Bennett
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Willowreed@aol.com
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Christopher Allen - GM Fangs
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Par Winzell
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Joey Hess
- an idea..wondering if this has been done bruce@puremagic.com
- an idea..wondering if this has been done Joey Hess
- Victim Characters (was: Critiquing Muds) Eli Stevens {KiZurich/GreySylk}
- pfiles yacketta@kodak.com
- pfiles Richard Woolcock
- bytecode results Chris Gray
- fwd: forum on game design/culture Brandon J. Rickman
- fwd: forum on game design/culture Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Katrina McClelan
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Andru Luvisi
- Containing automation? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Katrina McClelan
- Containing automation? Marc Hernandez
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Marc Hernandez
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Marc Hernandez
- Containing automation? Marian Griffith
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Dan Root
- Containing automation? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Ling
- Containing automation? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Ling
- Containing automation? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Jon A. Lambert
- Containing automation? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- Containing automation? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Containing automation? Jon A. Lambert
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Asmodeus
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Travis S. Casey
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? AR Schleicher
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Adam Wiggins
On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, Greg Miller wrote:
> > Greg Miller wrote:
> > > > People use automation for two things, in my experience. 1) doing things
> > > > they don't like doing due to being repetitive and 2) automating things
> > > > that they aren't good enough to do without automation. Our combat system
> > > > falls under the second part. Most people can't think quickly enough to
> > > > keep up with those who can fight properly, so they get cheesy and use
> > > > automation.
>
> [snip]
>
> That's one fun thing for most people. Obviously, nobody's going to
> bother playing a mud unless they find parts of it fun, and they're going
> to skip the parts that aren't fun if at all possible. That's
> particularly true on a pay mud, so I have my doubts whether this trigger
> paranoia many people suffer from accomplishes much other than
> frustrating players. Few if any people will bother writing anything
> other than the simplest imaginable triggers unless the game has some
> hideously unpleasant game mechanic in an otherwise terrific game.
That's not completely true, although it is largely so. I've played muds
where automation is very popular, and in fact encouraged by the admin.
People run helpful "bots" which hang out in town and heal or otherwise
help people out. Often they take donations and add them to a "pot", and
then roll a dice for a chance to win all the donations that the bot has
received so far. Usually the botting players are the most social ones,
for one because everyone know thems (using their services), and two
because they are more interested in meeting to people and chatting than
they are in playing. Often the botters are people who have played the mud
for a long time and have grown tired of the "regular" gameplay.
In addition, a lot of gameplay on the mud I'm thinking of benefits from
some basic scripting. Since you can control up to three characters,
keeping them all in line without any sort of scripting client is next to
impossible. It also leads to a lot of fun - writing little "who's on
first" routines for your characters, or other such nonsense. All in all
it leads to a very different style of play, something that makes the mud
different from most of the single-character, anti-scripting muds out
there.
Generally speaking, though, muds which were *not* designed for scripting
to be part of the gameplay still suffer from the "repetitious action"
problem which makes scripting attractive. I don't like having to eat and
drink manually, but many (GoP) muds force you to do it. I almost always
automate it; I simply don't find keeping track of food very fun. (LPs
usually have eating not be mandatory, but something that can give you a
quick energy boost - a very good way of handling it, IMO.)
Anyhow, just trying to point out that scripting isn't an implict evil,
which seems to be the attitude on this list frequently. But I certainly
agree that if you find a lot of players scripting certain things in your
game, they are probably too tedious by themselves, and bear examination.
Adam W. - Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Martin C Sweitzer
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Laurel Fan
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Greg Miller
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Charles Hughes
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Katrina McClelan
- Containing automation? Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Containing automation? Charles Hughes
- Containing automation? Laurel Fan
- Containing automation? Charles Hughes
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Marian Griffith
- Containing automation? Matthew Mihaly
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- Containing automation? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Containing automation? Marian Griffith
- Containing automation? Wayne Pearson
- Containing automation? AR Schleicher
- Containing automation? Koster, Raph
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #121 - 2 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #121 - 2 msgs Koster, Raph
- UO currency Timothy O'Neill Dang
- Game design Adam Wiggins
- dispatching events Greg Miller
- dispatching events Mark Gritter
- dispatching events Greg Miller
- injury-based combat Greg Miller
- injury-based combat Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- injury-based combat Brian Carter
- injury-based combat Matthew Mihaly
- injury-based combat Greg Miller
- mud vs. mush membership Matthew Mihaly
- mud vs. mush membership Adam Wiggins
- mud vs. mush membership Greg Miller
- mud vs. mush membership Jay Carlson
- mud vs. mush membership Marian Griffith
- mud vs. mush membership Matthew Mihaly
- mud vs. mush membership Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- mud vs. mush membership Matthew Mihaly
- mud vs. mush membership Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- mud vs. mush membership Greg Miller
- mud vs. mush membership Adam Wiggins
- mud vs. mush membership Jay Carlson
- mud vs. mush membership Adam Wiggins
- combat/injury Greg Miller
- The Virtual Ecology Tony Wilkinson
- The Virtual Ecology Adam Wiggins
- The Virtual Ecology Jp Calderone
- The Virtual Ecology Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- The Virtual Ecology Albert
- The Virtual Ecology Schubert, Damion
- The Virtual Ecology Greg Miller
- The Virtual Ecology Brandon J. Rickman
- The Virtual Ecology Tony Wilkinson
- The Virtual Ecology Marian Griffith
- The Virtual Ecology Chris Gray
- The Virtual Ecology Brian Carter
- The Virtual Ecology Par Winzell
- The Virtual Ecology Felix A. Croes
- The Virtual Ecology Chris Turner
- The Virtual Ecology Ling Lo
- The Virtual Ecology Brandon J. Rickman
- [ScryMUD] Splitting development, code re-organization. Ben Greear
- OT: Raph & Kristen absent for a bit Koster, Raph
- Essays on parsing text. Ling
- Essays on parsing text. Christopher Allen
- Essays on parsing text. Travis S. Casey