September 2003
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Jim Purbrick
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks J C Lawrence
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Bruce Mitchener
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Jim Purbrick
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Bruce Mitchener
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks J C Lawrence
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Roy Riggs
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Jim Purbrick
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Sean Kelly
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Mike Shaver
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Eamonn O'Brien
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks ceo
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks ceo
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Lazarus
- [TECH] Server Bottlenecks Jeff Thompson
- [Tech] Garbage collection Brian Hook
- [Tech] Garbage collection Lars Duening
- [Tech] Garbage collection Bruce Mitchener
- [Tech] Garbage collection Jay Carlson
- TECH: Question about Bartle's new book Christer Enfors
- TECH: Question about Bartle's new book Richard A. Bartle
- Generating Cities John Arras
- Load Testing a MUD sszretter@hotmail.com
- Load Testing a MUD Ren Reynolds
- Load Testing a MUD Ben Greear
- Load Testing a MUD Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Load Testing a MUD Matthew D. Fuller
- Load Testing a MUD Marc Bowden
- Load Testing a MUD Lars Duening
- Load Testing a MUD Marc Bowden
- [DGN] Writing... a mud... erich-herz@uiowa.edu
- [DGN] Writing... a mud... Amanda Walker
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Yaka St.Aise
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Matt Mihaly
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Yaka St.Aise
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Michael Chui
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Amanda Walker
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Matthew Dobervich
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Justin Randall
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Yaka St.Aise
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Chris Duesing
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Crosbie Fitch
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Yaka St.Aise
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. John Buehler
- [DGN]: Ludicrous scheme. Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Corpheous Andrakin
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Scott Jennings
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matthew Dobervich
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Daniel Anderson
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Mike Shaver
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Daniel Stahl
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Tamzen Cannoy
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Mike Shaver
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? ceo
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Nathan Yospe
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Linder Support Team
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Marian Griffith
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Michael Chui
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Paul Schwanz
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? J C Lawrence
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Amanda Walker
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Jeff Cole
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Jeff Cole
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Amanda Walker
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Marian Griffith
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Jeff Cole
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Michael Chui
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Marian Griffith
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Jeff Cole
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? ceo
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? ceo
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Scott Jennings
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Daniel Anderson
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Scott Jennings
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? ren@aldermangroup.com
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Dave Rickey
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Baar - Lord of the Seven Suns
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Michael Chui
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ryan S. Dancey
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? John Buehler
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Dave Rickey
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Matt Mihaly
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Amanda Walker
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Amanda Walker
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Amanda Walker
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Marian Griffith
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Chris Mancil
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Zach Collins {Siege}
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ren Reynolds
- BIZ: Who owns my sword? Tamzen Cannoy
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Daniel Anderson
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Koster, Raph
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Scott Jennings
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Martin Bassie
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Chris Holko
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? burra@alum.rpi.edu
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Scott Jennings
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Daniel Anderson
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Matt Mihaly
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Threshold RPG
- Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever? Jason Smith
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 5 Jessica Mulligan
- [Tech] Functional languages Brian Hook
- [Tech] Functional languages ceo
- [Tech] Functional languages Brian Hook
- [Tech] Functional languages Kim
- [Tech] Functional languages J C Lawrence
- [Tech] Functional languages Joshua Judson Rosen
- [Tech] Functional languages sproctor@ccs.neu.edu
- SW:G Matt Mihaly
- Grief teaching? (Was: Why doesn't Lineage count asthe most pop burra@alum.rpi.edu
- Grief teaching? (Was: Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever?) ghovs
- Grief teaching? (Was: Why doesn't Lineage count as the most popular MMOG ever?) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- R: MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 5 Ghilardi Filippo
- Ghostmode (was: SW:G) Lars Duening
- Ghostmode (was: SW:G) Michael Tresca
- Ghostmode (was: SW:G) Marian Griffith
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 5 Crosbie Fitch
- BIZ: Who holds your cahonas in their hand? (runs your infrastructure...; ) ceo
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Tess Lowe
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Vladimir Cole
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Erik Bethke
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Erik Bethke
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Corpheous Andrakin
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Mike Shaver
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Vladimir Cole
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Lars Duening
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Peter Harkins
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Lars Duening
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Marian Griffith
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Scott Moore
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Justin Coleman
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) David Cooksey
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Marian Griffith
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Rayzam
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Rayzam
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Marian Griffith
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Rayzam
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Corpheous Andrakin
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Spot
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Acius
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Rayzam
- ghost mode (was SW:G) J C Lawrence
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Mike Shaver
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Smith, David {Lynchburg}
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Eli Stevens
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Rayzam
- ghost mode (was SW:G) John Buehler
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Vladimir Cole
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Mike Shaver
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Chris Duesing
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Michael Chui
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Yaka St.Aise
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Michael Chui
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Yaka St.Aise
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Xyrrus
- Ghost Mode Pat Ditterline
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation) Crosbie Fitch
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation) John Buehler
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Katie Lukas
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Paul Schwanz
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Amanda Walker
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation) Crosbie Fitch
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Matt Mihaly
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation) Kerry Fraser-Robinson
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation) Torgny Bjers
- Player malleable worlds (was expected value and standard deviation) Chanur Silvarian
- Player malleable worlds (was expected value and standard deviation) Corpheous Andrakin
- Player malleable worlds (was expected value and sta ndard deviation) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and sta ndard deviation) Sean Kelly
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value andstandard deviation) Richard
- ghost mode Tess Lowe
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Mike Shaver
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Vincent Archer
- ghost mode Tess Lowe
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Corey Crawford
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode ceo
- ghost mode Rayzam
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Rayzam
- ghost mode Tess Lowe
- ghost mode David Cooksey
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Tess Lowe
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- ghost mode Matt Mihaly
- ghost mode Marian Griffith
- ghost mode Tess Lowe
- ghost mode Richard
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Draymoor {Philip Loguinov}
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Bo Zimmerman
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Frank Crowell
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments J C Lawrence
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments J C Lawrence
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments J C Lawrence
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments J C Lawrence
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Paolo Piselli
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments J C Lawrence
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments ceo
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Crosbie Fitch
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Pat Ditterline
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Brent P. Newhall
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Roy Riggs
- Seamlessly Distributed Online Environments Sean Kelly
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Vladimir Cole
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Amanda Walker
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Derek Licciardi
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Amanda Walker
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Samurai Cat @ Catacombs
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) David Loving
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Samurai Cat! @ Catacombs
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Walton, Gordon
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) David Kennerly
- Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- variable difficulty levels (was: ghost mode) Corey Crawford
- variable difficulty levels (was: ghost mode) David Snyder
- variable difficulty levels (was: ghost mode) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- variable difficulty levels (was: ghost mode) Michael Tresca
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- Player malleable worlds (was Expected value andstandard deviation) Ren Reynolds
- R: BIZ: Who owns my sword? Ghilardi Filippo
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Chanur Silvarian
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Joshua Uyehara
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Lars Duening
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Rayzam
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Brian Hook
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? J C Lawrence
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Matt Mihaly
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Zach Collins {Siege}
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Matt Mihaly
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Matt Mihaly
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Sheela Caur'Lir
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Lee Sheldon
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? David Cooksey
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Lee Sheldon
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Rayzam
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Kwon J. Ekstrom
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Ben Chambers
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Russ Whiteman
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Ben Chambers
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Russ Whiteman
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Amanda Walker
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Derek Licciardi
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Chanur Silvarian
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Mike Shaver
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Sheela Caur'Lir
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Amanda Walker
- DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Chanur Silvarian
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Crosbie Fitch
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Michael Tresca
- play styles and difficulty settings ceo
- BIZ: Markee Dragon katie@stickydata.com
- BIZ: Markee Dragon Mike Shaver
- BIZ: Markee Dragon Frank Crowell
- BIZ: Markee Dragon Frank Crowell
- BIZ: Markee Dragon Derek Licciardi
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) ceo
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) Crosbie Fitch
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) ceo
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) Mark Cheverton
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) Michael Sellers
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) ceo@grexengine.com
- Meta-games (not META list ;)) ceo
- [DGN]: Ludicrous speed. Yaka St.Aise
- variable difficulty levels Matt Mihaly
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Amanda Walker
- ghost mode (was SW:G) Freeman, Jeff
- Terra Nova, virtual world blog Castronova, Edward
- R: Rewarding Beta Testers (There's Pricing Deal) Ghilardi Filippo
- ghost mode Amanda Walker
- [list] DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Scion Altera
- [list] DGN: Why give the players all thenumbers? Rayzam
- [list] DGN: Why give the players all the numbers? Marian Griffith
- [list] DGN: Why give the players all thenumbers? John Buehler
- ghost mode ceo
- Class hierarchies for objects Brian Hook
- Class hierarchies for objects Bo Zimmerman
- A Theory of Fun Paul Schwanz
- The State of Play: On the Second Life Tax Revolt J C Lawrence
- The State of Play: On the Second Life Tax Revolt F. Randall Farmer
- Hidden Character Attribs Spot
- Hidden Character Attribs Owen Matt
- Hidden Character Attribs Sheela Caur'Lir
- Hidden Character Attribs J C Lawrence
- size Matt Mihaly
- size Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- size Amanda Walker
- size Matt Mihaly
- size Sheela Caur'Lir
- size Sheela Caur'Lir
- A world without charity Eamonn O'Brien
- A world without charity Corpheous Andrakin
- A world without charity Eamonn O'Brien
- A world without charity Marian Griffith
- A world without charity Matt Mihaly
- A world without charity Mike
- A world without charity Eamonn O'Brien
- A world without charity Castronova, Edward
- A world without charity Erik Bethke
- A world without charity gbtmud
- A world without charity Dave Rickey
- A world without charity ceo@grexengine.com
- A world without charity Samurai Cat @ Catacombs
- A world without charity Crosbie Fitch
- A world without charity Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- A world without charity Jeff Crane
- A world without charity eric
- A world without charity David Cooksey
Eamonn wrote:
> All this talk of who owns whos sword and ebay trading lately got
> me thinking, and so I started to wonder why players can trade
> items for money, and the answer is simple, because in game
> mechanics generally allow you to hand an item over to a player and
> to recieve nothing in return, an act of charity. So this got me
> thinking, if the game prevented acts of charity such that all you
> could do with an item was junk it (i.e. remove it from the game
> world, not drop it) or trade it for an equally valuable item what
> would this do to the game world?
...
> This system could solve several problems:
> 1. Twinking. Since you cannot give items to your newbies until
> they find equally useful items, twinking becomes a much more
> restricted option.
> 2. Muling. Without the ability to freely transfer items, mules
> become much more difficult to manage, which should reduce server
> space used for mules. (Note I dont doubt players will still
> hoard items, but since presumably you have some sort of item
> limit per player this should end up fairly limited). I would
> certainly imagine it would be a better situation all round.
> 3. Account Trading. Since getting a high level, well equipped
> account is harder, it should reduce the tendancy to trade them,
> though conversely this may make accounts more valuable. How do
> full account trades generally work? I imagine it is either a
> full transfer of billing information (which should be easily
> preventable by the operators, just make sure you are always
> billing the same person for the same account), or just a
> transfer of the password to have the player transfer all the
> items to their own chars which would become very difficult under
> the above system.
Interesting.
I think that the system will work, mostly, but that it would be
extremely frustrating to use. It's an artificial restriction in
line with the 'This is a no jumping zone' of Space Quest.
What if George has 5 value 1 items he wishes to trade for one value
5 item? Is this allowed, or does the trading restriction only allow
1:1 trades? Will the MUD restrict access to higher-levelareas?
If multiple lower-value items can be traded for one higher-value
item, then twinking would still exist, although it would be more
difficult. If the MUD does not restrict access to 'higher-level'
areas, a player could simply have a friend do all the work to
acquire an item (kill the monster, open the chest, etc), and then
take the item himself.
It would tend to eliminate muling (if possible, it would be too much
effort). However, I don't really think it's a good idea to prevent
muling entirely, as long as the storage space can handle it.
Extremely limited item space is very frustrating for collectors
(Diablo II is one example of a game with many collectors) as they
must constantly get rid of items. If you really need to eliminate
muling, allow each player one character only (3Kingdoms mud does
this until one reaches Lord/Lady level).
Account trading will still remain, it's impossible to really control
this. Monetarily, there's no reason to disallow it. With a game
like Everquest, account trading works in a number of different ways.
First, you have people who sell their accounts to strangers because
they are quitting the game or need money for real-life situations
(rare, but it happens). Second, you have people who quit and give
their account info to friends. This is much more common than
selling it to a stranger in my experience. Third, people will give
their account information (name, password) to friends so that their
friends may use their characters when they're needed, or help them
catch up exp/quest wise if their playtime is somewhat limited.
In case one and two, the credit card information would need to be
changed. In case three, nothing changes except the person behind
the keyboard. It would be possible to mostly prevent the first two
cases by disallowing credit card info to be changed. However, how
do you handle players who cancel one credit card and need to enter
their new credit card? Or who change residence/name and wish their
account to reflect this?
The strongest argument for allowing account trading is monetary.
From my experience (4 years of playing Everquest), account-retention
is greatly enhanced by allowing account trading. I would
guesstimate that at least 20% of Everquest players own 2 or more
accounts. In some cases, these are owned collectively by guilds who
are short on certain classes. In others, people maintain the
accounts of friends to ensure that their characters remain viable
should their prior owners wish to return to the game.
All that aside, my strongest objection to the system is that it
doesn't make sense. It's utterly contrary to our intuitive
understanding of how the world works. If I pick something up, and I
can physically give it to person A, I should be able to give it to
person B.
To prevent/reduce twinking, there are a lot of already existing
notions that make a good deal more sense.
-- required level on item.
-- required stat on item
-- item requires another item to be equipped (slightly different,
works with the other restrictions)
-- item has scaling stats/abilities based on the
skills/stats/levels of the character equipping it.
-- item has a chance to injure/kill the equipping character if
their level/skill is below a certain value.
-- item is semi-sentient and gradually allows the player to use it
(i.e. slowly reveals powers if its wielded for long periods of
time)
-- item is not droppable (attaches itself to the character, will
not allow itself to be discarded, similar to cursed)
-- item is sentient and will control the character if said
character has stats/level too low to control it.
-- item will try to escape from character with stat/skill/level
below 'X'(see the One Ring from Tolkien)
All of the above work better imho than 'I'm sorry, the Trade
Fairness Law has valued your Sword of Doomat 5, but Tommy's Broken
Short Sword' is valued at 1. You cannot complete this trade.
In addition to the logical issue, the assigning of values adds a
whole new balance level to games which already have multiple balance
problems. For the system to work, it is absolutely imperative that
every item within a certain tier requires the same work to obtain,
and is equivalently useful. Since no trading up or down is allowed,
all items within the tier must be equal. It's possible to do of
course, but it makes adding items to the game more time consuming.
-Dave Cooksey - A world without charity Eli Stevens
- A world without charity Michael Tresca
- A world without charity Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- A world without charity (was Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation) Chanur Silvarian
- In Norrath, Tattoine and Rubi-ka, Just What Are Your Legal Rights? Vladimir Cole
- C# as MUD Language, Linux as platform =?koi8-r?Q?=22?=Andrew Batyuck=?koi8-r?Q?=22=20?=< javaman@mail.ru>
- MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 30 Chanur Silvarian
- The Automated Online Role-Player Michael Tresca