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Molly · 02-11-2005, 04:22 PM

You can make hundreds of races, think out fancy names for them, make detailed descriptions, write elaborate backstories for each of them, paint them blue and adorn them with all kinds of ribbons and bows. But they still don’t add much to the gameplay, unless they are different in some crucial ways, and also are balanced.

Because if they aren’t really different, in the sense that they have some useful property that not all the other races have, all the rest is just cosmetics. Just like skills and spells that have been renamed to look original, but still are basically the same as the old stock skills are nothing but cosmetics.

And if they aren’t really balanced, the players will choose only the ones that give the biggest advantages. Players are usually very quick in catching up on those things, and word spreads incredibly fast in a mud. And you’ll end up with only a small number of all the races being popular, and some not being played at all.

It might be a different thing in a pure RP Mud, with no code-driven combat, but as soon as there is some kind of competitive gameplay in the mud, balance immediately becomes an issue. And I think even in a hardcore RP Mud, people would be pretty reluctant to pick some of the choices offered.

There are several ways of making races different. One of the better might be extra or unusual wear_locs, like wings, tails, horns, antennas, tentacles, 3 heads, 6 limbs and so on. But as soon as one race has more wear_locs than the rest, it becomes unbalanced, and a large number of the players will then choose that race for that very reason, which perhaps wasn’t quite what you intended. And if you switch one wear_loc for another, you need to make sure that there is similar-quality equipment available in the world for ALL the different wear_locs.

You could also use size to differ the races. But for this to be meaningful you also need to implement size to many rooms, and to all the available equipment, and make sure that there is a sufficient and balanced supply is for all races. Because if a giant can use the same equipment and weapons as a pixie, size doesn’t really make sense. Giants should not even be able to enter human-sized houses, let alone pixie-sized ones, and pixies should have a rough time getting along in a normal sized world, because those little butterfly wings will only take them so far. And if one or the other gets the disadvantage, you have the unbalance back again and nobody will choose that race once the word spreads.

Many Muds use stats like int, wis, con, strength, speed etc, to differentiate the races. This again poses some balancing problems, because wisdom isn’t automatically exchangeable for strength. And the same goes for ‘natural’ weapons and armour, like scales, exoskeletons, elephant-skin, claws, fangs, stings, fire-breathing etc. A race that has any of those natural assets should automatically be disqualified from using things like swords or platemail. This might give those races some initial advantage, but those could easily turn to disadvantages in the long run.

Then there are special abilities like gills, fire- or heat-resistance, waterwalk, flying etc. These properties are only really useful if the zones are created in a way that makes you need any of the abilities to get along. And if this shuts a majority of the other races out, it is not only a waste of areas (and Builder work), it’s also very frustrating for the players. And again it’s potentially unbalancing, unless all races have equally unique possibilities.

I am not saying it wouldn’t be fun to make a lot of different and unique races. But if you want a logical and consistent world and not just cosmetics, you need to follow them up throughout the entire design of the Mud. And that could lead you into problems and difficulties that you never even dreamt of, when you first decided to make all those cute races.

I guess it would be quite possible to design a mud solely based on the properties of a number of very different races. It could for instance be quite interesting in a Pure PK Mud, with a small world, to set races with different properties and abilities (like claws, poison stings, scales, termo-shells, firebreath etc.) against one another, like humans were set against lions in the Gladiator games of ancient Rome. Provided of course they could all be sufficiently balanced and have weaknesses as well as strengths.

But in the ‘normal’ Mud too many REALLY differentiated races would probably lead to either creating an insanely complex world, or discarding many other aspects of the game. It is a choice you have to make when you first start to plan your world. After all, the main aspects of a game are playability and entertainment. And that is why, after lengthy discussions, we decided to limit the races to humanoid size and shape in my Mud, and only have a few extra wear_locs. We would rather spend our best efforts on features that we found more interesting and rewarding for the players.

02-11-2005, 04:22 PM	#54
Molly Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Sweden Home MUD: 4 Dimensions Posts: 574	You can make hundreds of races, think out fancy names for them, make detailed descriptions, write elaborate backstories for each of them, paint them blue and adorn them with all kinds of ribbons and bows. But they still don’t add much to the gameplay, unless they are different in some crucial ways, and also are balanced. Because if they aren’t really different, in the sense that they have some useful property that not all the other races have, all the rest is just cosmetics. Just like skills and spells that have been renamed to look original, but still are basically the same as the old stock skills are nothing but cosmetics. And if they aren’t really balanced, the players will choose only the ones that give the biggest advantages. Players are usually very quick in catching up on those things, and word spreads incredibly fast in a mud. And you’ll end up with only a small number of all the races being popular, and some not being played at all. It might be a different thing in a pure RP Mud, with no code-driven combat, but as soon as there is some kind of competitive gameplay in the mud, balance immediately becomes an issue. And I think even in a hardcore RP Mud, people would be pretty reluctant to pick some of the choices offered. There are several ways of making races different. One of the better might be extra or unusual wear_locs, like wings, tails, horns, antennas, tentacles, 3 heads, 6 limbs and so on. But as soon as one race has more wear_locs than the rest, it becomes unbalanced, and a large number of the players will then choose that race for that very reason, which perhaps wasn’t quite what you intended. And if you switch one wear_loc for another, you need to make sure that there is similar-quality equipment available in the world for ALL the different wear_locs. You could also use size to differ the races. But for this to be meaningful you also need to implement size to many rooms, and to all the available equipment, and make sure that there is a sufficient and balanced supply is for all races. Because if a giant can use the same equipment and weapons as a pixie, size doesn’t really make sense. Giants should not even be able to enter human-sized houses, let alone pixie-sized ones, and pixies should have a rough time getting along in a normal sized world, because those little butterfly wings will only take them so far. And if one or the other gets the disadvantage, you have the unbalance back again and nobody will choose that race once the word spreads. Many Muds use stats like int, wis, con, strength, speed etc, to differentiate the races. This again poses some balancing problems, because wisdom isn’t automatically exchangeable for strength. And the same goes for ‘natural’ weapons and armour, like scales, exoskeletons, elephant-skin, claws, fangs, stings, fire-breathing etc. A race that has any of those natural assets should automatically be disqualified from using things like swords or platemail. This might give those races some initial advantage, but those could easily turn to disadvantages in the long run. Then there are special abilities like gills, fire- or heat-resistance, waterwalk, flying etc. These properties are only really useful if the zones are created in a way that makes you need any of the abilities to get along. And if this shuts a majority of the other races out, it is not only a waste of areas (and Builder work), it’s also very frustrating for the players. And again it’s potentially unbalancing, unless all races have equally unique possibilities. I am not saying it wouldn’t be fun to make a lot of different and unique races. But if you want a logical and consistent world and not just cosmetics, you need to follow them up throughout the entire design of the Mud. And that could lead you into problems and difficulties that you never even dreamt of, when you first decided to make all those cute races. I guess it would be quite possible to design a mud solely based on the properties of a number of very different races. It could for instance be quite interesting in a Pure PK Mud, with a small world, to set races with different properties and abilities (like claws, poison stings, scales, termo-shells, firebreath etc.) against one another, like humans were set against lions in the Gladiator games of ancient Rome. Provided of course they could all be sufficiently balanced and have weaknesses as well as strengths. But in the ‘normal’ Mud too many REALLY differentiated races would probably lead to either creating an insanely complex world, or discarding many other aspects of the game. It is a choice you have to make when you first start to plan your world. After all, the main aspects of a game are playability and entertainment. And that is why, after lengthy discussions, we decided to limit the races to humanoid size and shape in my Mud, and only have a few extra wear_locs. We would rather spend our best efforts on features that we found more interesting and rewarding for the players.