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
- 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
John Buehler wrote:
> You speak as if roleplaying is the highest form of game play.
Well it is of course. :-)
> 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.
What do you do when players' characters act joyous in an angry town.
Oppress them? Seriously though, if players are coming to play a
*game* you will get GoPers. GoPers simply do not care about
atmosphere other than... "Hey that's cool, can I get any cheese from
that? No? Let's move on then!".
> 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.
Are you sure about that? I'm convinced that people will pay money for
just about anything.
> 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").
Yes but why "hopefully"? Is this just a game where role-playing is
not supported, yet not discouraged.
> 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.
Employee NPC wranglers are not going to any more consistent about
quality than dedicated player/volunteers. I think the employee
vs. volunteer topic was probably discussed to death in all it's many
angles. That's my 2 cents.
> Second, I very definitely want players to react to the world. Many
> folks are far more interested in having the players control the
> world.
This is true. I don't think reaction is enough for immersion.
Players want to affect the world. Players want "attention". This is
true of most players regardless of their style.
> 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.
Certainly there are tens of thousands of role-players out there.
Prolly quite a bit more that aren't mudding. Where are your 10000
coming from, and what happens happens if only 100 players show up?
> 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*.
Bingo. There you go. They even do it for free. ;-)
> 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.
There are a lot of goals that are at odds here. You want immersion in
the world and then you want casual gamers. You want to encourage
roleplaying via atmosphere, though I cannot figure out quite why you
don't want to provide any in-game support for it. Role-players are by
their very nature not only actors, but are content creators. In order
to establish a game conducive to role-play, it must be participatory,
not passive and reactive. So you just want functional roleplay from
players merely in order not to disturb the atmosphere and theme of the
game?
Now I've seen such games. What you get is players whispering to each
other in hushed tones and offline about how to game the game. It's
sort of like a guy who designs a model train layout, shows it off to
people, and says "Don't touch anything".
> 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.
Ok this is like putting on a show. Once players realize their
participation is limited to being an audience member this will get old
real fast. This extends to both GoPers and RPers.
>> 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?
Well there does exist troupes of experienced role-players that
actually run games and scenes for cash.
>> 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?
Well I know Children of the Moon is around 2500 or so they claim. I
believe Cajun Nights may be larger. Does it really matter? None of
them are commercial ventures so there really isn't any marketing going
on. Therefore there isn't any real way a measuring their viability or
potential success as a business. It's my theory that a few thousand
well-placed dollars will buy you 500 players even if you are selling
crap.
--
--* Jon A. Lambert - TychoMUD Email:jlsysinc@ix.netcom.com *--
--* Mud Server Developer's Page <http://tychomud.home.netcom.com> *--
--* If I had known it was harmless, I would have killed it myself.*-- - PvP Systems John Buehler
- PvP Systems Travis Casey
- 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