January 2001
- Proper MU* style list Kyndig
- Proper MU* style list Malcolm Tester
- Proper MU* style list Daniel A. Koepke
- Proper MU* style list Richard A. Bartle
- Proper MU* style list Christopher Allen
- Proper MU* style list Koster, Raph
- Proper MU* style list Kerem HADIMLI
- MU* styles Kerem HADIMLI
- Moving away from the skill system Inq Admin
- Moving away from the skill system Hulbert, Leland
- Moving away from the skill system jrb@kc.rr.com
- About.com article on Skotos Christopher Allen
- About.com article on Skotos Matthew Mihaly
- About.com article on Skotos Christopher Allen
- About.com article on Skotos SavantKnowsAll@cs.com
- About.com article on Skotos Christopher Allen
- About.com article on Skotos Matthew Mihaly
- About.com article on Skotos Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- About.com article on Skotos Klara
- About.com article on Skotos Jon Morrow
- About.com article on Skotos Matthew Mihaly
- Skill-Trees & Christopher Allen
- Skill-Trees & Phil Hall
- Skill-Trees & Wes Connell
- Skill-Trees & Travis Casey
- Skill-Trees & Christopher Allen
- Skill-Trees & Dmitri Zagidulin
- Skill-Trees & Travis Casey
- Skill-Trees & Travis Casey
- Player statistics Wes Connell
- Player statistics Marc Bowden
- Player statistics Wes Connell
- Player statistics Marc Bowden
- Player statistics Matthew Mihaly
- Player statistics rayzam
- Player statistics Klara
- Player statistics Wes Connell
- Player statistics Koster, Raph
- Player statistics Jake Song
- Player statistics Koster, Raph
- Player statistics Matthew Mihaly
- Player statistics Dave Rickey
- Player statistics msew
- Player statistics Jessica Mulligan
- Player statistics Vincent Archer
- Player statistics Koster, Raph
- Player statistics David Kennerly
- Player statistics Dave Rickey
- Player statistics David Kennerly
- Player statistics Jake Song
- Player Statistics Jessica Mulligan
- Player statistics Jake Song
- CGDC Dinner J C Lawrence
- Skotos Anthony R. Haslage
- Skotos Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Koster, Raph
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Marc Bowden
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Koster, Raph
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Willowreed@aol.com
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Tess Snider
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Koster, Raph
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Michael Tresca
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Chris Lloyd
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" Tess Snider
- "Men are from Quake, Women are from Ultima" SavantKnowsAll@cs.com
- NomicWiki J C Lawrence
- more idiocy from graphical MUD developers Matthew Mihaly
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Jeremy Lowery
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework David Loeser
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Bruce
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Jeremy Lowery
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Bruce
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Miroslav Silovic
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Ben Chambers
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Justin Rogers
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Ben Chambers
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework John Buehler
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Bruce
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Jeremy Lowery
- An Idea... Mud Development Framework Chris Jones
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Bruce
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Koster, Raph
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Bruce
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Koster, Raph
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) J C Lawrence
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Valerio Santinelli
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Tess Snider
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Bruce
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Koster, Raph
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Ben Chambers
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Chris Jones
- New Muds Corey Crawford
- Dinner scheduling and possible roundtable J C Lawrence
- New Mud Fox McCloud
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Matthew Mihaly
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Jake Song
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Jeff Freeman
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Par Winzell
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) J C Lawrence
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Bruce
- Server stability (was: Player statistics) Felix A. Croes
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Jake Song
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Bruce
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #277 - 13 msgs Mark Watson
- ANNC: .NET Frameworks based Mud Codebase Justin Rogers
- ANNC: .NET Frameworks based Mud Codebase Bruce
- ANNC: .NET Frameworks based Mud Codebase szii@sziisoft.com
- ANNC: .NET Frameworks based Mud Codebase Justin Rogers
- ANNC: .NET Frameworks based Mud Codebase szii@sziisoft.com
- Announcing: Pan J C Lawrence
- Announcing: Pan J C Lawrence
- Announcing: Pan Kyndig
- Experience System Differences Alornen
- Experience System Differences Malcolm Tester
- Experience System Differences Hulbert, Leland
- Experience System Differences rayzam
- Experience System Differences Ben Chambers
- Experience System Differences rayzam
- Experience System Differences Ben Chambers
- Experience System Differences Travis Casey
- Experience System Differences Mark Watson
- Experience System Differences rayzam
- Experience System Differences Kindred321@aol.com
- Experience System Differences Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Experience System Differences Brian M. Schkerke
- Experience System Differences Ben Chambers
- Experience System Differences Malcolm Tester
- Experience System Differences Warren Powell
- speaking of symposia... Robert Zubek
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #281 - 18 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #281 - 18 msgs Jeff Freeman
- I Want to Bake Bread Neeby
- I Want to Bake Bread Richard
- I Want to Bake Bread John Buehler
- I Want to Bake Bread Richard
- I Want to Bake Bread Ryan
- I Want to Bake Bread Patrick Dughi
- I Want to Bake Bread Siobhan Perricone
- I Want to Bake Bread Hal Bonnin
- I Want to Bake Bread Travis Casey
- I Want to Bake Bread John Buehler
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) Corey Crawford
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) Lord Ashon
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) John Buehler
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) nbossett@pierb.com
- Exploration Exp (was: Experience System Differences) Warren Powell
- MUD research, good ideas and designers who care? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Baking Bread Lord Ashon
- Baking Bread John Buehler
- Distributed PSW design Stephane Bura
- Distributed PSW design Frank Crowell
- Distributed PSW design Bruce
- Distributed PSW design Stephane Bura
- Distributed PSW design John Buehler
- Distributed PSW design J C Lawrence
- Distributed PSW design Justin Rogers
- Distributed PSW design John Buehler
- Distributed PSW design Eli Stevens
- Distributed PSW design John Buehler
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #282 - 18 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #282 - 18 msgs Koster, Raph
- IOWA project / Request for addition to FAQ Bruce
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Corey Crawford
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Hulbert, Leland
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) msew
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Travis Casey
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) rayzam
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Michael Tresca
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) msew
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Michael Tresca
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) Alistair Milne
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) J C Lawrence
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) J C Lawrence
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) John Buehler
- No Exp? (was: Exploration Exp) J C Lawrence
- C# Greg Miller
- Player Created Object System Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- Player Created Object System Richard
- Player Created Object System Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- Player Created Object System Christopher Allen
- Player Created Object System Richard
- Distributed PSW design (Frank Crowell) Peter Yu
- Distributed PSW design (Frank Crowell) Frank Crowell
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #282 - 18 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #282 - 18 msgs J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #282 - 18 msgs Jake Song
- Room Generation Nathanael Dermyer
- Room Generation J C Lawrence
- Room Generation George Greer
- Room Generation Bruce
- Room Generation Bruce
- Room Generation Richard
- Room Generation Mordengaard
- Room Generation Kwon Ekstrom
- Room Generation Jon Lambert
- Room Generation Patrick Dughi
- Room Generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Room Generation Travis Casey
- Room Generation Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Room Generation Eli Stevens
- Room Generation Richard
- Room Generation Richard
- Room Generation Colin Coghill
- Room Generation efindel@earthlink.net
- Room Generation Ryan P.
- Variant Methods for Related Skills Christopher Allen
- Variant Methods for Related Skills Travis Casey
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? J C Lawrence
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? Koster, Raph
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? rayzam
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? Travis Casey
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? Jon Lambert
- Anyone know of plans for an I-Mode MUD/LARP? Jeff Freeman
- Room and Terrain Integration in Textual Environments vognsen@post10.tele.dk
- Project Entropia the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Project Entropia John Vanderbeck
- Project Entropia Christopher Allen
- Project Entropia J C Lawrence
- Project Entropia J C Lawrence
- Project Entropia John Vanderbeck
- Project Entropia the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Project Entropia Batir
- Project Entropia the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Project Entropia Frank Crowell
- Project Entropia Jessica Mulligan
- Project Entropia Frank Crowell
- Project Entropia Jessica Mulligan
- Project Entropia the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Project Entropia the_logos@www.achaea.com
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jake Song
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jake Song
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Koster, Raph
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jeff Freeman
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #285 - 32 msgs Jake Song
- Skill System Kwon Ekstrom
- Skill System Travis Casey
- Skill System justice@softhome.net
- Skill System Ben Chambers
- Skill System Batir
- Skill System Ben Chambers
- Skill System Batir
- Skill System justice@softhome.net
- Long Day's Journey Into Tights J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs the_logos@www.achaea.com
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Nathan F.Yospe
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs justice@softhome.net
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Dave Rickey
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Vincent Archer
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs msew
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs Travis Casey
- When Do We Get the "Right" to Privacy? J C Lawrence
- When Do We Get the "Right" to Privacy? Nathan F.Yospe
- When Do We Get the "Right" to Privacy? Koster, Raph
- Cybercafes a fluke? (was: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs) Scion Altera
- Cybercafes a fluke? (was: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #289 - 8 msgs) Holly Sommer
- An interesting concept Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- [iggamedes] WAKE UP! :) Tomb Raider style games? J C Lawrence
- [iggamedes] WAKE UP! :) Tomb Raider style games? Jon Lambert
- Cultural Differences in Gaming and Gamers SavantKnowsAll@cs.com
- Cultural Differences in Gaming and Gamers Koster, Raph
- Cultural Differences in Gaming and Gamers the_logos@www.achaea.com
- System burps and outages J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Peter Yu
- Semi Graphical Muds Christopher Allen
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds David Loeser
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds David Loeser
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Corey Crawford
- Semi Graphical Muds Kerem HADIMLI
- Semi Graphical Muds Jon Lambert
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Kerem HADIMLI
- Semi Graphical Muds Frank Crowell
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Koster, Raph
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds Jay Carlson
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Jon Lambert
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds Christopher Allen
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds Felix A. Croes
- Semi Graphical Muds Christopher Allen
- Semi Graphical Muds Felix A. Croes
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds David Loeser
- Semi Graphical Muds Marc Bowden
- Semi Graphical Muds Felix A. Croes
- Semi Graphical Muds Bruce
- Semi Graphical Muds Felix A. Croes
- Semi Graphical Muds Adam Casbarian
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Koster, Raph
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Koster, Raph
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds John Buehler
- Semi Graphical Muds Koster, Raph
- Semi Graphical Muds Dave Rickey
- Semi Graphical Muds Hulbert, Leland
- Semi Graphical Muds Dave Rickey
- Semi Graphical Muds geoffrey@yorku.ca
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds rayzam
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Sanvean
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Tamzen Cannoy
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Frank Crowell
- Semi Graphical Muds rayzam
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds rayzam
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds rayzam
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds rayzam
- Semi Graphical Muds Kevin Littlejohn
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Ben Chambers
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Semi Graphical Muds J C Lawrence
- Semi Graphical Muds Adam Casbarian
- Semi Graphical Muds the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Ebay bans character selling the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Ebay bans character selling susie
- Ebay bans character selling Frank Crowell
- Ebay bans character selling Frank Crowell
- Ebay bans character selling the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Ebay bans character selling Richard.Woolcock@rsuk.rohde-schwarz.com
- Ebay bans character selling Kevin Littlejohn
- Ebay bans character selling Travis Casey
- Ebay bans character selling Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Ebay bans character selling Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Ebay bans character selling rayzam
- Ebay bans character selling John Buehler
- Ebay bans character selling Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Ebay bans character selling Dave Rickey
- Ebay bans character selling Eric Lee {RAT}
- Ebay bans character selling Frank Crowell
- Ebay bans character selling Timothy Dang
- Ebay bans character selling Paul Robinson
- Ebay bans character selling Peter Yu
- Ebay bans character selling Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Ebay bans character selling David Kennerly
- Ebay bans character selling Willowreed@aol.com
- Ebay bans character selling Travis Casey
- Ebay bans character selling rayzam
- Ebay bans character selling Jeremy Music
- Ebay bans character selling rayzam
- Ebay bans character selling Yves K
- Ebay bans character selling the_logos@www.achaea.com
- front end clients.....was Semi Graphical Muds Willowreed@aol.com
- front end clients.....was Semi Graphical Muds Frank Crowell
- front end clients.....was Semi Graphical MUDs Christopher Allen
- Meta-gaming: (real <--> game) transfers David Kennerly
- EverQuest Study Dave Rickey
- [pol-core-test] New file uploaded to pol-core-test (OT) Jeff Freeman
- [pol-core-test] New file uploaded to pol-core-test (OT) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- [pol-core-test] New file uploaded to pol-core-test(OT) Dave Rickey
- [pol-core-test] New file uploaded to pol-core-test(OT) Valerio Santinelli
- [pol-core-test] New file uploaded to pol-core-test(OT) Frank Crowell
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Jon Lambert
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems Federico Di Gregorio
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems gmiller@classic-games.com
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP systems Greg Miller
- PvP systems John Buehler
- PvP systems gmiller@classic-games.com
- PvP systems John Buehler
- PvP systems gmiller@classic-games.com
- PvP systems John Buehler
- PvP systems gmiller@classic-games.com
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP systems J C Lawrence
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP systems J C Lawrence
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP systems Dave Turner
- PvP systems gmiller@classic-games.com
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP systems S. Patrick Gallaty
- PvP systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems Federico Di Gregorio
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Jake Song
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems Corey Crawford
- PvP Systems Jon Lambert
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Jon Lambert
- PvP Systems John Buehler
Jon Lambert writes:
> Those are just props. They aren't necessary to role-play. And they
> often distract from role-play. They spoil scenes because they
> introduce actions, events and dialogue that just isn't wanted or
> appropriate.
You speak as if roleplaying is the highest form of game play.
Roleplaying is one way that a player enjoys the game experience. My
use of NPC props - and they assuredly are props - is to provide
players with a constant reminder of the fact that this genre works a
certain way and that the mood of the town is angry or joyous or
opressed, whatever. If I want my gamemasters to run a story and
provide entertainment to my players, I'd have to convince and/or
recruit roleplayers to play the parts that I need. That's no way to
run a business where I'm providing a paid entertainment experience to
my customers.
My approach to telling a story is to have my NPC wranglers (I love
that term) manipulate the NPCs to cause certain activities to take
place. They do their own thing and the players are invited to observe
and react. They are not invited to go up and talk to the captain of
the guard. He's an NPC, and while there is a wrangler who controls
the captain, that wrangler is not going to talk one-on-one with the
player. So NPCs remain service-providers. If you have accumulated
faction with one, you can ask for favors from them using a canned
interface. It's not roleplaying. It's just a gameplay element that
will be fun to some.
Player to player interaction takes place independent of the NPCs. For
example, the assault on the orc village. Players roleplay and plot
and plan and then assault the village, hopefully for roleplaying
reasons (although we know it'll be "for the hell of it"). The NPC
wrangler who runs that area of the world will cause the orcs to react
in some way so that there is an element of real intelligence in the
encounter, not just mindless force on force.
I'm primarily concerned with consistent quality of service, and
roleplayers don't provide it.
> There is a large audience of role- players that views dialogue with
> NPCs as a patent waste of keystrokes and time.
And I count myself among them, despite the fact that I am not a
roleplayer. But as a game feature, interacting with an NPC can be
entertaining when I tell others what I have done. It's a very 'gamey'
way to play, but it's viable for some degree of entertainment. That's
especially true when I don't feel like interacting with other people
right now.
> Even so in a mud, these "smart" NPCs become little side-quests of
> guess the magic words to activate them and get what you want.
> That's an additional level of game that rewards the GOPer, it
> doesn't do anything for the RPer. RPers need audiences of humans
> not bots. There's a difference. You see, this is forcing players
> to react to the world. You are casting the roles...not players.
> The other way is allowing the players to create the roles and
> character.
First, I don't want my players spending their time trying to carry on
a conversation with an NPC. That's silly. As I said, I'd like
players to think of the NPCs as service providers. One of the
services that they provide is ambiance for the towns and other areas
where characters concentrate.
Second, I very definitely want players to react to the world. Many
folks are far more interested in having the players control the world.
That only works for a limited population of players who are of a like
mind. I'm after a paradigm that works for massive playerbases (tens
of thousands). It's a far more vanilla experience than most
roleplaying enthusiasts will be interested in.
> > Imagine, in contrast, a town with only players in it. Nobody >
> establishes the atmosphere of the town, so it becomes whatever the >
> players say it is. > The only reason there isn't an atmosphere
> established in such a town is simply because you are starting from a
> base of game players. Start with role-players and you'll get an
> atmosphere.
Whose atmosphere? The one that I wanted or the one that the
roleplayers want? Am I supposed to convince them of how to roleplay
in my world? Do I hire them?
I really think that some game publisher needs to hire roleplayers to
actually run NPCs at minimum wage or some such thing. That's really
what roleplayers want to do. They want to *act*.
> You can force these players to dress up in fancy medieval clothes,
> put them in a medieval town, force them to say good day, thee and
> thou and other magic words to make the little robots wandering
> around do unusual things. You still won't get them to role-play.
> You just get mice in your maze looking for cheese in funny outfits
> and saying strange things because the cheese happens to be easier to
> come by that way.
I don't want my players to roleplay beyond functional roleplaying. I
want them to enjoy the world. What I want to avoid is players who do
things that are very counter to the atmosphere of the game world. The
NPCs serve as a reminder that your character is in a medieval town.
Or in a futuristic town. Whatever. Non-roleplayers need the props as
reminders. A cast of extras to run the NPCs would be great, but I'd
never rely on a cadre of volunteers. I'd have to produce high level
scripts and have the actors figure out how to present that script.
I'd have terrible security problems of keeping any information about
the script secret, etc. Blech.
> Of course not. But the purpose of role-play is to entertain other
> players. It requires 2 or more humans, not a human and a machine.
> Now a game where the vasy majority of players _are_ role-players is
> almost guaranteed to be entertaining and atmospheric regardless of
> the presence of props.
Yup. Where ya gonna find the roleplayers that are willing to provide
consistent quality of service to the rest of the playerbase?
> The functional/immersive style of roleplay is well illustrated by
> Armageddon and Threshold, and is done pretty well there. :-) The
> other styles are not represented on this list. The best way to
> illustrate these other styles is to go out and play those games,
> Cajun Nights, Chiba City, Children of the Moon, OtherSpace, etc.
> There are dozens more.
What is the size of the player base of some of those games?
JB - PvP Systems Sanvean
- PvP Systems J C Lawrence
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems J C Lawrence
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems J C Lawrence
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems J C Lawrence
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems J C Lawrence
- PvP Systems Michael Tresca
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Jon Lambert
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Travis Casey
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems Kerem HADIMLI
- PvP Systems the_logos@www.achaea.com
- PvP Systems The Druid
- PvP Systems rayzam
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems msew
- PvP Systems Koster, Raph
- PvP Systems msew
- PvP Systems msew
- PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems msew
- PvP Systems Vincent Archer