At 10:20 AM 25/3/2000 Malaysia, Phillip A Ames wrote:
>What do you guys think of players getting "salaries" ?
I was thinking about the same thing too. Whether is a good idea or not I
guess it depends on the theme and background of the mud itself. I mean, if
the whole theme of the mud still evolve around the hack'n'slash idea (to
get exp, eq and most of the cash) then players won't go for it, unless they
want to roleplay.
Here are some of the things that entered my mind:
1. How would the player acquire the skills to do their jobs? Do they need
to spend prac sessions (or some other form of points) to get the skills
required?
2. How would the player go about doing their jobs? You were thinking of
having a room and let the player do a "job" command in it. Will the player
be in the room for the next 6-8 mud hours performing his job or until the
job is completed? If the player is a healer/doctor and no one comes to his
clinic, will he still be considered working? What about
blacksmiths/engineers that requires a few days/weeks to complete something?
What if they started something but never did get around to finish it?
Another thing, are they allowed to do other things while working like
sorting out their eq?
3. What would the players need to do the job, in terms of tools/materials?
Assuming that a stove, pots and pans are already in the room, if a player
wants to cook "floating meatpie in brown sauce", what would he need?
4. What would the output of the job be? Healers/doctors are easy since they
just heal people. A fishermen will end up with a fish or two. What about
tailors or carpenters? What would they get when they finish?
5. How would having jobs benefit them overall? Okay, it's a way to get
cash. But, if a player is a healer/doctor, can't he use his skills
during/after combat? Or if he's a hunter, can't he help track and set up
traps to snare the enemies? Or can't the chef make something edible from
the raw meat that the hunter got from god knows where?
6. Why would players go for it? Half of the players that logs in usually
have the word "KILL" in bright neons in their mind. They get easily turned
off by complexity. However, the other half will try out anything that they
deem interesting. The question is: would they find it interesting?
When doing something this complex (maybe not in terms of coding but it is
in terms of concept), you'll need to sit down and outline everything
carefully. You'll need to balance everything and plan properly. Once you
are satisfied with what you have, only than you can tell whether it's a
good idea or not. But remember that you need look not just from a coder/imm
POV, but also from the players' as well. It is them that we're all trying
to attract. Someone once mentioned that most of the time we're trying to
implement something that we deem as interesting as a coder or as an imm.
When the players disregard them, we tend to be disappointed and irritated
at the players. Next, we'll be using all our "god given powers" to make
their life miserable. :)
I'm currently in 4th attempt and yet I'm still not that satisfied with what
I have. I might just scrap the whole idea and go for something a bit more
simpler. However, if you need some help I'm willing to give a helping hand.
G'luck! :)
---
Afizal Mustapa
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
(amustapa@hotmail.com)
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