In "DISCUSSION TOPIC: RP vs HACK" Blue quoted Chris:
C>> 3. Why cant a balance exist? Frankly, pure RP is as boring to me as pure
C>> H/S. A combination, where the PK is based on RP.
>
B> is exactly what i'm saying. to some people, 'pure' rp, by which i assume
B> you mean talker-style rp, is boring. to other people, it is not.
Needless to say, this is not a new topic, and every time it comes
around I see the same confusion over the term "roleplaying". That's
because some use it in the sense of AD&D and it's spin-offs, like
the White Wolf games, and others are thinking of computer games like
Duke Nukem.
One useful term/concept that has been used in these discussions is
Bartlett's "immersion". That is, anything that reminds you it's a
just a game and you're not really someone else breaks the spell.
"How about them Pats?" is an OOC no no in either style.
ROM's are more immersive than talkers (MUSHes) because on a talker
you a conscious puppeteer. You are strictly IC in the room, but on
the channels and in tells you are busy chatting with the other players
planning plot twists and getting 'consent'. Consent is very hard to
explain out of context. The usual phrase is, "Nothing can happen to
your character unless you agree to it.". Obviously, you're not on a
ROM anymore, Dorothy. The reason for this is, as Chris pointed out,
many people put hundreds of hours into developing the characters
they've created, and they don't want some newbie to pull a shotgun
from under their trenchcoat and blow it all away.
MUSHes trade off immersion for realism. When IMPs starting about
realism, I become very polite. :)
I was gonna stay out of this, but here I am, so to address the
original post:
I made a 'filename' field, freeing names from Unix restrictions,
so players use spaces in names, and could change their names if
they got married, joined a clan, or got a better position. My theme
is Celtic (right Chris - no Mega City, and the little blue Smurfs
became little blue Picts) so clan names will be... clan names. :)
Keriwena will join a clan and become Keriwena Campbell, not
<< CAMPBELL >> Keriwena.
When you die you go to Heaven, you don't just pop up in the
middle of the Temple. I haven't finished this part, but you
will be judged, and if deemed worthy, returned to your body.
(I really like that 'become a ghost' system, btw.)
I took out RECALL. (I think that's the biggest factor in my
abysmal player count.)
Weather makes a difference. It snows in the winter, and you
get really tired trudging through the drifts.
I reworked the food stuff. Fighting makes you hungrier than
sleeping does. You can eat fat, calories, and protein, and
a balanced diet is healthiest. This effect is minor, but
gives those perfectionist types something to tweak. If you
eat a lot, it doesn't matter but the problem with that is...
Players aren't minivans. You can only 'hold' (inventory) about
four objects, depending on Dex. A good bag is suddenly very
important. Planning and packing for an adventure becomes
necessary. This took a lot of tweaking to get right. I played
one place that carried it to the extreme. You could only hold
one item, and you had to take your boots off to change your
pants. Can we say, "incredibly freakin' tedious"?
In my godlike opinion, the greatest mistake made by most IMPs
in trying to add realism and roleplay is they forget the newbie's
perspective. Greet systems and no channels make it very hard
to get started. Nobody logs in and assumes it's worth learning
your systems to play. They won't give it a chance. There's got
to be immediate payoff, either in terms of making friends or
scoring points. That's my 'godlike' opinion, because that's
what *I* screwed up as an IMP.
I'm tired... been doing this too long... anyone want a great
game that need just a few MORE changes? <sigh>
Sandi
"I have not yet begun to code!"
[EMAIL PROTECTED] blades.inetsolve.com 3333
