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Spoke · 03-31-2008, 04:54 PM

For full disclosure, the following is an opinion only regarding what I understand by RPI when I read the words of the acronym (not based specifically on Derelak's definition) from the point of view of someone who has sparsely tried to play RP online games but has played MUDs of other categories for years, so bear with me if you would.

Must have's:
As I see it, part of the list set forth in this thread deals with the server-client interaction, be it existence of not of custom emotes, or how easy it is to put forth your own original emotes, etc.

It dwells some into preventing communication that is not strictly in-character, yet does not address the need for a spiritual/self reflective/schizophrenic or however-you-call-it side that allows you to interact with yourself in meditation, fear, etc.

It goes into murky areas as the need to remove levels yet does not require justification for any other measurable (internal or external) in-game feature.

Adds unneeded requirements (assuming the list on the 1st page is being updated) as crafting, that would leave a game like Age of Reptiles out of question, yet does not justify why.

Accounts/Multi-playing, these are two things that cannot realistically be enforced, even more, by trying to enforce them the truly skilled people who go undetected (defining skill as being able to fool the admins) benefit even more from the 'cheating'. This problem is exacerbated when the natural flow of events is slowed down (lag-less with delay)

It is blind to the fact that there is a thing like having too much realism. If it is unreasonable that you would be able to cross the world in a few seconds it should be so as well that you would spend the same time crossing a town than traveling between two towns, yet, walking through a town might give you plenty of opportunities to interact with other players (what I thought RP MUDs were for in a sense) while the path to a distant town is not necessarily as crowded as a town and hence should provide with less RP-interaction chance. In terms of being realistic or not, if 1 city square is 33 ft/10 m wide and a wilderness square is 330 ft/100 m wide, should then each move within a city square take roughly 10 seconds and one on the wilderness 100 seconds for the sake of realism (assuming humanoid forms at Homo-Sapiens walking rate) would that add anything to the actual playing experience? or is it enough to have an 'Okarina of Time' type of transport that everybody but the newly recruited knows is necessary to not die of boredom that takes you where you want in a reasonable amount of time?

I believe RPI as a game genre should make it clear that even though you are aiming for immersion on the game world, the expectation more often than not is that you will play a significant role in the events of the world, even if you are playing the town fool or the beggar, I doubt there are many players who will be content by playing said beggar over, and over, and over, by just sitting on the same corner without much more hope than to get enough for a bread before going back to their fox hole, yet, "realistically", there should be someone falling into this category in most MUD settings I have seen described.

These points lead me to suggest that the simpler the game idea, the simpler the player options and character options, the easier it is to immerse yourself into role playing. This is one of the reasons why I felt in love with Age of Reptiles, because the rules are simple, basic. Even if the game itself has not a huge range of tools for emoting or is finished in any form, it allows you to play what you are told you are. Your only tools are what nature (as defined in the game) gives you, it has many of the requirements listed forth in your list, but more importantly, it is actually possible to go into the world and have a clear idea of what to expect, from the perspective of the average person logging into the game. Armageddon is beautifully built, with extensive description of their races, their world the magic, etc. But unless you read of all the lore the average inhabitant SHOULD know, you are going to walk around like a mumbling idiot for a while until you figure out who is who and where things are etc.

Anyway, enough for the monthly (or worse) post.

03-31-2008, 04:54 PM	#112
Spoke Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 101	Re: Guidelines for an RPI mud. For full disclosure, the following is an opinion only regarding what I understand by RPI when I read the words of the acronym (not based specifically on Derelak's definition) from the point of view of someone who has sparsely tried to play RP online games but has played MUDs of other categories for years, so bear with me if you would. Must have's: As I see it, part of the list set forth in this thread deals with the server-client interaction, be it existence of not of custom emotes, or how easy it is to put forth your own original emotes, etc. It dwells some into preventing communication that is not strictly in-character, yet does not address the need for a spiritual/self reflective/schizophrenic or however-you-call-it side that allows you to interact with yourself in meditation, fear, etc. It goes into murky areas as the need to remove levels yet does not require justification for any other measurable (internal or external) in-game feature. Adds unneeded requirements (assuming the list on the 1st page is being updated) as crafting, that would leave a game like Age of Reptiles out of question, yet does not justify why. Accounts/Multi-playing, these are two things that cannot realistically be enforced, even more, by trying to enforce them the truly skilled people who go undetected (defining skill as being able to fool the admins) benefit even more from the 'cheating'. This problem is exacerbated when the natural flow of events is slowed down (lag-less with delay) It is blind to the fact that there is a thing like having too much realism. If it is unreasonable that you would be able to cross the world in a few seconds it should be so as well that you would spend the same time crossing a town than traveling between two towns, yet, walking through a town might give you plenty of opportunities to interact with other players (what I thought RP MUDs were for in a sense) while the path to a distant town is not necessarily as crowded as a town and hence should provide with less RP-interaction chance. In terms of being realistic or not, if 1 city square is 33 ft/10 m wide and a wilderness square is 330 ft/100 m wide, should then each move within a city square take roughly 10 seconds and one on the wilderness 100 seconds for the sake of realism (assuming humanoid forms at Homo-Sapiens walking rate) would that add anything to the actual playing experience? or is it enough to have an 'Okarina of Time' type of transport that everybody but the newly recruited knows is necessary to not die of boredom that takes you where you want in a reasonable amount of time? I believe RPI as a game genre should make it clear that even though you are aiming for immersion on the game world, the expectation more often than not is that you will play a significant role in the events of the world, even if you are playing the town fool or the beggar, I doubt there are many players who will be content by playing said beggar over, and over, and over, by just sitting on the same corner without much more hope than to get enough for a bread before going back to their fox hole, yet, "realistically", there should be someone falling into this category in most MUD settings I have seen described. These points lead me to suggest that the simpler the game idea, the simpler the player options and character options, the easier it is to immerse yourself into role playing. This is one of the reasons why I felt in love with Age of Reptiles, because the rules are simple, basic. Even if the game itself has not a huge range of tools for emoting or is finished in any form, it allows you to play what you are told you are. Your only tools are what nature (as defined in the game) gives you, it has many of the requirements listed forth in your list, but more importantly, it is actually possible to go into the world and have a clear idea of what to expect, from the perspective of the average person logging into the game. Armageddon is beautifully built, with extensive description of their races, their world the magic, etc. But unless you read of all the lore the average inhabitant SHOULD know, you are going to walk around like a mumbling idiot for a while until you figure out who is who and where things are etc. Anyway, enough for the monthly (or worse) post.