May 2002

• Random Resets John Robert Arras
• • Random Resets Kwon Ekstrom
    From: "John Robert Arras" <johna@wam.umd.edu>
    > On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 "Kwon Ekstrom" <justice@softhome.net> wrote:
    
    >> I've done alot of thought on handling things similar to this
    >> (although not this exactly) with creating script and equipment
    >> templates for creatures. You could create alot of diversity
    >> simply by allowing multiple templates to be applied to a creature
    >> when it's loaded. That'd create alot of interesting diversity
    >> with a minimum of work for the builders.
    
    > This is something I've played with a lot, too. I've got two things
    > that that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of. I think I've
    > mentioned them before, but not in a really detailed manner.
    
    My templating system has a variety of similarities to what you
    describe, although I'm a control freak, you have to specifically
    tell things to load in a given area.
    
    You can do this by specifying, I want x amount of y npc to be loaded
    from vnum a to vnum b with z templates. It'll then apply your
    templates to the NPC's as it loads them into the game. You can
    either make new templates in your area, or call templates from
    another zone. I have an area which stores alot of generic often
    used objects and has alot of basic "atmosphere" templates. Guards
    have this set of eq type deal.
    
    For random pops, you can have equipment templates which have a list
    of possible items that load on a mob, and will only load a given
    amount of items from the list. You can apply as many templates as
    you want to a mob.
    
    Some templates maintain an incremental state, so you can have a list
    of names, and load 10 guards, just put their names in the template
    and each guard will pop with the next name, you only use the 1 vnum
    to handle them. You can modify any stat on an npc or object that
    you can set with the builder commands (I make use of an editable
    interface which the editor uses to be able to modify stats).
    
    It's a pretty advanced system. I haven't written my prog system
    yet, but I intend to allow it to apply templates to items as well.
    
    > The first thing is to be able to put resets on everything:
    > areas/rooms/objs/mobs. When things reset, they reset
    > recursively. So, a room loads a guard, and the guard loads a sack,
    > and some bread loads in the sack. When the reset is called on the
    > room, the guard gets created, then the sack gets created, then the
    > bread gets created, and the bread gets put into the sack, the sack
    > is given to the guard, and the guard gets put into the room.
    
    > Area resets are handled a little differently. If the start area in
    > the MUD is the thing being reset, it first picks a random area,
    > then a random room to reset the thing in. If it's another area, it
    > picks a random room to reset things in.
    
    My reset system works a bit different than ussual too. When an NPC
    dies, it checks if it was a "reset" NPC or if it was "loaded". If
    it was reset, then it puts a delayed event to wait for it's
    repop... there aren't "Area wide" resets, each reset has a specific
    time before the npc returns. After setting up the event to be
    handled it then applies all of it's templates to itself so that when
    the reset occurs it only has to pick a room to load in. The event
    contains the mob to be loaded and what room to load it in... this
    allows all of the templates to be applied before the mob is actually
    "loaded".
    
    > The second idea is what I call "randpops". Basically, these make
    > it possible to reset one out of a large number of choices, and
    > it's possible to put things into "tiers" so one reset can give out
    > good equipment to powerful creatures, and weak equipment to wimpy.
    
    > Randpop objects are things that store extra data on them: the vnum
    > where a block of things to be resets starts, the number of things
    > in a "tier" of those things, the number of tiers of things, and
    > the chance to pick from a better tier. The chance to pick from a
    > better tier can be either a random chance like 1/5 per tier, or it
    > can be based on the level of the thing being reset, so that more
    > powerful things can pick from better tiers of equipment.
    
    Sounds interesting, creates a fairly generic atmosphere from the
    sound of it, but it'd definitely get alot of standardized equipment
    out there and would change the flavor of areas over time.
    
    > Let's pretend that I'm really lazy and that I hate building. I
    > want to make lots of forests on my MUD and I don't want them to be
    > barren, but I also don't want to have to make 100 kinds of
    > squirrels and wolves for each area and then reset them to specific
    > locations.
    
    My template system was designed to be like that, but it takes a
    little more work. You just apply templates to the area thru the use
    of the provided editors (I'm currently working on a GUI builder
    interface that communicates with the server via XML)
    
    > This is repeated this N times, and the net effect is that after
    > several resets, we reach the point where there are close to 2000
    > forest creatures in the world. If some of the forest creatures are
    > given a simple drive to find and eat other things, then we get a
    > nice little ecology set up. Over time, if players attack things
    > near their cities, then the mobs will appear to concentrate in
    > unused areas, simply because the random resets there never get
    > killed.
    
    Definitely an interesting concept... I have an idea to use a "random
    encounter" system where NPC's would get randomly loaded in an area
    when a player entered it, and they'd have a timer which would slowly
    decrement when there are no players in the area. If another player
    entered the area before the timer ran out, the timers would be
    reset. I figure this would be a good way to handle "generic" mobs
    so they aren't constantly using up memory, and you're not constantly
    loading new NPC's thus eating up cpu cycles. I'm writing in java
    and pool my NPC's so when the timer runs out they simply get dropped
    back onto the pool to await being initialized again. If the pool
    grows too large, then it knocks them off the pool to await the GC.
    
    -- Kwon J. Ekstrom
  • • Random Resets John Robert Arras
• [MLP] The use of ecology models Rayzam
• Interesting things to do (was: Player Accounts on a Non-Commercial MUD) John Buehler
• • Interesting things to do (was: Player Accounts on a Non-Commercial MUD) Damion Schubert
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• • Introduction and My solution to Powergamers, Treadmills, and Content Devaluation. shren
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• • Question: Any published research on Sims type game personae? Robert Zubek
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• • [TECH] Voice in MO* - Phoneme Decomposition and Reconstruction John Buehler
  • • [TECH] Voice in MO* - Phoneme Decomposition and Reconstruction Ted L. Chen
    • • [TECH] Voice in MO* - Phoneme Decomposition and Reconstruction John Buehler
  • [TECH] Voice in MO* - Phoneme Decomposition and Reconstruction Ted L. Chen
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        • [TECH] Voice in MO* - Phoneme Decomposition and Reconstruction Ted L. Chen
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• Combat with Style (was Player Accounts on a Non-Commercial MUD) lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
• Playskins Koster, Raph
• People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
• • People were talking about resets.. Sasha Hart
  • • People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
  • People were talking about resets.. John Buehler
  • People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
  • People were talking about resets.. Arnau Rossell=?US-ASCII?Q?=F3?= Castell=?US-ASCII?Q?=F3?=
  • • People were talking about resets.. shren
    • People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
    • • People were talking about resets.. David B. Held
  • People were talking about resets.. shren
  • • People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
    • • People were talking about resets.. Michael Tresca
      • • People were talking about resets.. Fred Clift
        • • People were talking about resets.. Lars Duening
          • People were talking about resets.. Michael Tresca
          • • People were talking about resets.. Rayzam
            • • People were talking about resets.. Matt Mihaly
  • People were talking about resets.. Tand'a-ur
  • • People were talking about resets.. John Buehler
    • People were talking about resets.. Leland Hulbert II
  • People were talking about resets.. lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
  • People were talking about resets.. Jason Murdick
  • • People were talking about resets.. Jeff Lindsey
    • People were talking about resets.. Ben Chambers
  • People were talking about resets.. Sasha Hart
  • • People were talking about resets.. David B. Held
    • • People were talking about resets.. Sasha Hart
      • • People were talking about resets.. Anderson, David
        • People were talking about resets.. David B. Held
        • • People were talking about resets.. Acius
          • • People were talking about resets.. Marian Griffith
• Question about copyovers. Anderson, David
• • Question about copyovers. Tand'a-ur
  • • Question about copyovers. Anderson, David
    • • Question about copyovers. Kwon Ekstrom
      • • Question about copyovers. Adam
        • Question about copyovers. Oliver Jowett
        • • Question about copyovers. Kwon Ekstrom
          • • Question about copyovers. Adam
      • Question about copyovers. Lars Duening
  • Question about copyovers. Jon Lambert
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  • • Question about copyovers. Zach Collins {Siege}
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• non-violent activities (was People were talking about resets..) Ammon Lauritzen
• References on personality and emotion models Robert Zubek
• Multimodal interface conference. Rayzam
• Hyperbolies R Us shren
• • Hyperbolies R Us Matt Mihaly
• TECH: Systems Administration Issues Thomas Leavitt
• Questions about ... XML as data format Adam
• • Questions about ... XML as data format Anderson, David
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  • • Questions about ... XML as data format Adam
• R&D Matt Mihaly
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• Conversation logs? Robert Zubek
• • Conversation logs? Rudy Fink
  • • Conversation logs? Vincent Archer
  • Conversation logs? Shane Gough
• DGN: Elastic Advancement in MUDs? Jeff Lindsey
• • DGN: Elastic Advancement in MUDs? David B. Held
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• ADMIN: Virii and mail forgeries J C Lawrence
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• [TECH] Preferred LPC replacement? Jeff Bachtel
• • [TECH] Preferred LPC replacement? Damion Schubert
• Who `owns' conversation logs? Joshua Judson Rosen
• The Online Gaming Life for Me! Michael Tresca
• Boredom Ben Chambers
• • Boredom Michael Tresca
  • Boredom Matt Chatterley
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• • Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility [was Boredom] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
• "MMOG" Bible Brian 'Psychochild' Green
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• TECH: Single process v.s. multi process? Philip Mak
• • TECH: Single process v.s. multi process? Smith, David {Lynchburg}
  • TECH: Single process v.s. multi process? Bruce Mitchener
  • • TECH: Single process v.s. multi process? Bruce Mitchener
• In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Clay
• • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] apollyon
  • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
  • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishi ng Marginal Utility] Koster, Raph
  • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Jeff Cole
    • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Damion Schubert
    • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] John Buehler
    • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] amanda@alfar.com
      • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] John Buehler
  • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Michael Tresca
  • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Paul Schwanz
    • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Martin C. Martin
    • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Dave Rickey
      • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Vincent Archer
      • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Sanvean
      • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Matt Mihaly
      • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] F. Randall Farmer
        • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Matt Mihaly
      • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Michael Tresca
  • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Kwon Ekstrom
  • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Marian Griffith
    • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Yannick Jean
      • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Marian Griffith
  • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Ron Gabbard
  • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Sean Kelly
    • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Ron Gabbard
      • • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Sean Kelly
        • In defense of "soloability" [was Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility] Matt Mihaly
• Game shows Peter Tyson
• What keeps people interested in social muds? Martin C. Martin
• • What keeps people interested in social muds? Rudy Fink
  • • What keeps people interested in social muds? Martin C. Martin
    • • What keeps people interested in social muds? Joshua Judson Rosen
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? Ron Gabbard
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? Marc Bowden
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? Joshua Judson Rosen
  • • What keeps people interested in social muds? Matt Owen
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? lynx@lynx.purrsia.com
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? Richard A. Bartle
  • • What keeps people interested in social muds? Martin C. Martin
  • What keeps people interested in social muds? Richard A. Bartle
• New Beginings Drylar Levre
• • New Beginings Acius
  • New Beginings ceo@grexengine.com
  • • New Beginings Bruce Mitchener
    • New Beginings David B. Held
    • • New Beginings Kwon Ekstrom
      • • New Beginings David B. Held
        • • New Beginings Kwon Ekstrom
          • New Beginings Sean Kelly
      • New Beginings Lars Duening
      • • New Beginings David B. Held
        • • New Beginings Lars Duening
      • New Beginings Bruce Mitchener
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        • • New Beginings Kwon Ekstrom
          • New Beginings Paul Schwanz
          • • New Beginings Zach Collins {Siege}
          • New Beginings Miroslav Silovic
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  • New Beginings Draymoor a Vin il'Rogina
  • New Beginings David B. Held
  • • New Beginings Kwon Ekstrom
    • New Beginings Bruce Mitchener
• [DGN] Creating a MUD Richard Krush
• • [DGN] Creating a MUD Acius
  • [DGN] Creating a MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
  • • [DGN] Creating a MUD Edward Glowacki
    • • [DGN] Creating a MUD Kwon Ekstrom
  • [DGN] Creating a MUD Edward Glowacki
  • • [DGN] Creating a MUD Fred Clift
    • • [DGN] Creating a MUD David Bennett
      • • [DGN] Creating a MUD fred@clift.org
  • [DGN] Creating a MUD Damion Schubert
  • • [DGN] Creating a MUD Taylor
  • [DGN] Creating a MUD Matt Mihaly
  • • [DGN] Creating a MUD Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
• On the creation of constructive/social behaviours in online games! Marc Demesel
• [DGN] MUD Books James Edward Gray II
• • [DGN] MUD Books Scion Altera
  • [DGN] MUD Books Jeremy Noetzelman
  • [DGN] MUD Books Tand'a-ur
• Positive reinforcement for socializing [was In de fense of "soloability" ] Jeff Lindsey
• Character skill distribution and trade-offs Ron Gabbard
• • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Vincent Archer
    • • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
    • Character skill distribution and trade-offs John Buehler
    • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Sean Kelly
    • • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Ron Gabbard
      • • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Travis Casey
        • Character skill distribution and trade-offs Rayzam
• Space partitioning, R-Trees? Dread Quixadhal
• • Space partitioning, R-Trees? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • • Space partitioning, R-Trees? Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
  • Space partitioning, R-Trees? Crosbie Fitch