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Pasano · 06-27-2002, 10:05 AM

Maybe it's just the places that I've played. Maybe it's something bigger. I'd like to see what other people think of this for a variety of reasons.

I've spent significant time on a couple of RP-required muds, and I've never been pleased with the level of roleplay I've found, or the quality of it. It seems that regardless of how deep and interesting a few characters are, the majority still prefer to play shallow, 'what'cho-lookin'-at', hack'n'slash types. They spend countless hours number-crunching together a perfect character, and about 10 minutes determining how they're going to carry themselves and their strength about the realms. Even in a scenario where the numbers were removed in favor of a color-coded damage system and vague item identify statements like "Affects HR a wee tiny bit, or increases strength massively", players seemingly spend the bulk of their time on being the best killing machine, as opposed to the best roleplayer. These types typically ignore the roleplay attempts of the true RP-characters. And the sin of it is that ultimately, the mindless pkers will drive off the solid RPers.

Is this a sort-of disease among muds, that human tendency, for the most part, is to strive for domination rather than meaning?

And beyond that, how can this scenario be combatted? What rules or systems can be (or perhaps, to your collective experience, have been) implemented and enforced to produce and maintain a solid roleplaying environment. And if such a thing is done, is it possible to maintain a large player base?

06-27-2002, 10:05 AM	#1
Pasano New Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: New York, NY Posts: 21	Maybe it's just the places that I've played. Maybe it's something bigger. I'd like to see what other people think of this for a variety of reasons. I've spent significant time on a couple of RP-required muds, and I've never been pleased with the level of roleplay I've found, or the quality of it. It seems that regardless of how deep and interesting a few characters are, the majority still prefer to play shallow, 'what'cho-lookin'-at', hack'n'slash types. They spend countless hours number-crunching together a perfect character, and about 10 minutes determining how they're going to carry themselves and their strength about the realms. Even in a scenario where the numbers were removed in favor of a color-coded damage system and vague item identify statements like "Affects HR a wee tiny bit, or increases strength massively", players seemingly spend the bulk of their time on being the best killing machine, as opposed to the best roleplayer. These types typically ignore the roleplay attempts of the true RP-characters. And the sin of it is that ultimately, the mindless pkers will drive off the solid RPers. Is this a sort-of disease among muds, that human tendency, for the most part, is to strive for domination rather than meaning? And beyond that, how can this scenario be combatted? What rules or systems can be (or perhaps, to your collective experience, have been) implemented and enforced to produce and maintain a solid roleplaying environment. And if such a thing is done, is it possible to maintain a large player base?