Read what I wrote again. I didn't say it doesn't promote roleplay. I said, it doesn't promote it anymore than pendeath.
You must play alot of non-fantasy muds then. Fantasy by definition is not-real, hence fantasy
. Yes, yes, you can argue flying a dragon can be real in a land of Dragon Masters, but how does a person falling from the dragon and floating to the ground any "less real" than the person falling and not "dieing forever"?
Sounds like your problem is more of a PK rule issue than a permadeath issue.
RPI=Roleplay Intense. This has nothing to do with "great roleplay" but rather, that roleplay is "intense." Meaning, lots of pk, perhaps events or story that keep a player on the proverbial "edge of your seat." It is not automatically synonomous with great roleplay, but likely more on the "killer" side or harsh roleplay vs. romantic (unless intense romance is involved
) or more orderly established cities or areas. Though I tend to think RPE and RPI can be interchangeable depending on story, plot, and what is happening at the time in the game.
I dismiss realism in the context that you put it. By saying that ONLY permadeath is true realism would be like saying, if your game doesn't permanately kill monsters, then that isn't real. When that monster dies, by god it better stay dead! It will be a fun mud when you have 2 rabbits left to kill and only because no one found the rabbit hole in the fourth continent on the third planet. Or do they get to start again as well as a new character, maybe each rabbit has a new unique name?
Actually what I've found (and why NW only has moderate permadeath) is that most permadeath muds end up with long time pk'ers that somehow happened to not die in the first couple years and they run the show, so to speak.
That's a bold statement. What RPE mud doesn't roleplay at all times without exception. Hence the term Roleplay ENFORCED. I think you are talking about Roleplay Encouraged or Roleplay not required games.
To add to this though, I'll make the same statement I made a long time ago. If you want a true experience, turn off all distractions when you are gaming if possible. But for you to claim that someone getting a bonus for roleplaying akin to watching a movie and seeing a camera crew, I can only tell you that I agree with keeping distractions OOC to a minimum, however it is part of the game in most circumstances.
Are you saying that the games you play have zero score, health, prompt, stats, etc. If so, please tell me where you play, I'd love to see how this works. While NW keeps such things reduced, even on this roleplay enforced mud, you can see your stats as often as you like. Under your suggestions, there would be no commands at all that have anything to do with statistics about anything. Even help files would be non-existant. And you would not load any IRC's (IM, etc.), turn off the TV, your cell phone, and ignore anyone knocking on the door to be "fully immersed." Let's be a little realistic here.
Strange that you make this final statement but denounce roleplay being rewarded.