I've noticed a lot of people advertising that require crafting or emphasize that their games have excellent crafting. I've tried playing some with crafting, but uh get bored with the mud before raising a char to the point of really being able to craft. It just seems to me so pointless to spend gametime doing repetitive tasks for something I could easily pick up as a hobby in real life.
But obviously a lot of people really love crafting, so why why why?
Is it just as a general grouping of non-combative professions, so that it displays the game as being more than hack and slash?
Or is it the ability to create custom items and equipment (the end result, rather than the act of crafting)?
Or is there something else to it that makes it really fun that I'm totally missing?
I'm not trying to criticize crafting or people who like it. I'm just curious about it.

Well we don't have crafting and I can't say we have ever noticed the lack. There are a few smiths around where you can order customised weapons, but even those aren't particularly popular. I suppose we do have a number of items/spells which change properties of weapons though - so in a way that allows people to customise things.

If we ever wanted to add it then a "smith's guild" or an "armourers guild" could be added but, as I say, we have never really seen any demand for it.

One thing on our todo list that a lot of people liked was a secret class based on mages that allowed them to develop their own spells. Our players have also been known to spend a lot of time designing layouts and descriptions (and defences) for their Legend Estates. I suppose both of these are similar in many ways to crafting since you spend time to create something which you can then use/trade/show off to others.

Yeah, before I answer this I'd like to know if the main activities of your mud is fighting/mugging/dueling/arena combat etc.

The reason I like crafting in muds is that it is, to me, the non-boring alternative to Combat (well it can be if implemented correctly). Fighting just gets so freaking boring. Walk up to monster/player, type whatever version of kill verb you use normally, rinse and repeat. Do this a couple thousand times and you might be able to walk up to a different monster and use the kill verb. Wooo.

I would rather have a nice crafting system where I get to acquire different materials through a variety of means, then use different processes along the way to create items that are wholly my own creation. What I do not like are crafting sytems wherein you use the same process for every single thing you craft with a certain skill. That is just as boring as mud combat in my opinion. I like having a huge variety of processes and materials. I feel like I have accomplished a lot more creating something in a system like that then I do after I have hacked off my 4000'th orc head.

I do some metal working IRL. I love the process of creating a functional item out of raw materials. It's a thrill unlike any other, and in my opinion you haven't lived until you've created something that you enjoy or other people like to use.

Now it doesn't compare with the real thing, but crafting in a MUD can bring about the same thrill for me, if the system is good. It requires patience, yes, but there isn't any enjoyment for me if there's no self-sacrifice; The MUD doesn't feel real if there is none. Add to that the fun of RPing a different person, and you've got me hooked. Anyone else feel the same way?

It's my impression that this is something that's much more attractive on RP intensive/required games. For us, it's let us push a little closer to the idea of a player-driven economy. It also provides people with ways to survive that don't involve wandering out into the dangerous desert.

It's also fun in a puzzle sense - figuring out what you need in order to make something, as well as where to find those components.

Threshold doesn't have crafting, but if I was creating it again from scratch I would definitely design a crafting system that was implemented heavily into all aspects of the game.

I think to do it right you need to plan it from the beginning, rather than try to retro-fit it on later. It should be designed such that crafted items are not rendered useless by "drops", or else the whole system is worthless.

"Improvement" crafting systems are easier to add later. Threshold has tons of these kinds of things. By improvements I mean things like sharpening weapons, enchanting items, dyeing clothes, etc. Since these types of things enhance existing items, it is easier to add these into a game even if you didn't plan for them from the start.

As to why crafting is so fun, I think people enjoy the ability to CREATE things. People like expressing their creativity and being able to customize something in the world. Crafting allows this type of expression.

I'd tend to disagree with this - it may take a significant amount of work in order to establish crafting as a viable economic system, but it seems entirely plausible to me.

Could you elaborate as to why it wouldn't work at Threshold?

Uh, or just have one arrow item that modifes as it is created with whatever wood is the shaft, and whatever color the feathers are. Honestly no need to add in any items, unless it's one #### of a clunky system...

I've been thinking about this a little, and in a way we do have a crafting system - and it was retrofitted.

This crafting system is the secret class Alchemists.

They can go out through the game exploring and finding things for their recipes (whether cutting bits off plants or killing a monster and cutting organs from the corpse or whatever). They can then cook these together and use a research process to discover a recipy for creating potions/wands/scrolls/salves etc. Alchemists get a substantial proportion of their xp from this research process.

This playing style has been really popular with some players, and really unpopular with others...but with it being a single class that just means that only the people who like it need to worry about it. :-)

Out of curiosity: If there is a crafting system where a set sequence of non-combat actions can generate a substantial profit then what stops people writing a simple client script to run around repeating the actions for ever? Come back in a week and be the richest person on the mud...

I dunno about other muds, but on DM botting is illegal, and if you do it, chances are a player will kill you before a creator even knows about it. It's weird really...by and large, people can't stand botters, but they ooc cheat (use ooc knowledge for IC gains) fairly frequently. Guess it just goes to show how deep you can get into a good RP system, heh.

Thanks for all your comments, but I still don't understand.
Most muds without crafting have other ways to create custom items. Some allow restringing of existing items (as a reward for good rp). Others let you order custom items (pay a npc to do your crafting).
There are also many other alternatives to crafting as non-hack and slash options: shipping and trading, writing and performing songs and stories, preaching, gambling, stealing, political intrigue..Many of these I think are better than crafting for roleplaying because they involve more people.
Do you believe that an insistence on crafting causes people to ignore these other options, or be less creative in thinking of new options, and thus in the long run making more muds pretty much the same?

John, as far as I know, doing systems like crafting has nothing to do with the base code that they are in, such as Diku, but is simply limited to the coder, and how it is coded in.

Feudal Realms is a ROM/Diku base, and we have an extensive crafting system in place...our system uses one prototype object for each particular thing, whether it be a part, raw material, product, and so on. The code itself is what modifies the altered object.

We started our crafting system completely on a whim on June 9, 2000 when a player submitted an idea for one of my "two-hour coding challenges" to allow players to mine up ore. I added that system in, and it was a "normal" skill, just given to warriors, but once people realized what it could do, and once -I- did as well, it ballooned into what it is now, a system of over 75 (and growing) craft skills.

I love it to allow people to do something OTHER than mindlessly kill things. It is not a complete replacement for existing mob-loaded equipment, but in the future, I can see it as such a thing...

If anyone has anymore questions on crafting (at least on our crafting system) drop me a message on here, or an email at

Terl