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Old 02-13-2010, 02:00 AM   #22
DonathinFrye
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Name: Donathin Frye
Location: Columbus, OH
Home MUD: Optional Realities
Home MUD: Atonement RPI
Home MUD: Project Redshift
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Re: What types of games are impacted the most by permadeath?

My basic response to a lengthy and perhaps haphazard argument.

RPIs are affected less negatively by permanent death than a more H+S-styled game would be, simply because there is a culture of acceptance of permanent death on RPIs/"AFSs". Additionally, permanent death in these settings, if designed well, raises the stakes and provides a sense of community for the sake of survival. Certainly on Atonement, where combat code is more developed than other RPIs - where npc AI is far better scripted, coded and intelligent - there is a high risk to combat. That's the setting. If you wanted to create a survival horror setting, I would challenge you to create more horror than on an RPI setting where your character cannot just simply come back to life. In this way, permanent death is a positive thing for RPIs.

As a side-note, I refer to the RPI genre as such, simply because the "code engine" that almost all RPIs use (ARM is an exception) is called the RPI Engine, or is a derivative of the RPI Engine. You could call Medievia DIKU, Realms of Despair a SMAUG, or Utopia: Type Final a Godwars ... you would be exactly as correct.

Now, could permanent death work for H+S in a positive way? I think so, if it's designed to work. Optional "hard" mode makes sense, and I know that Dragonrealms and a few other H+S MUDs have employed this approach. One thing that I think actually makes the loss of (particularly) equipment a little bit rougher in an RPI (or at least less certain), is that on a H+S you typically get your equipment from killing a mob or completing a quest. Even if your character dies, you are going to likely follow the same or a similar route to get your equipment. This is perhaps the only "more negative" aspect to permanent death that I can come up with for an RPI-styled game.

Still, no matter the kind of game, permanent death as a feature (even an optional one) can do nothing but raise the stakes of play. For roleplay, this means more intense, more interesting play. For both RPI and H+S, this means more strategic and cautious planning of combat, lest you risk getting killed for foolishness. It's certainly not a good answer for every MUD.

What kind of MUD does it affect the most? In a positive way, it affects RPIs the most, I'd say. In a negative way? Quest-based MUDs. H+Sing levels and equipment back together isn't so bad. Having to repeat your way through a series of quests that you are already familiar with (unless the game has a very dynamic and varying quest system) might have less replayability love.

Replayability is what you are ultimately talking about here, and genres that have more of a variety in replayability will ultimately be better candidates for some form of a permanent death system than MUDs that are less replayable.
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