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Re: Death
I think what it has come down to with me is that I have spent 11 years playing various muds (over 10 differnet ones for various period, Threshold being up there with the best of them), invested a lot of money in muds, and more time than I care to add up.. and everytime a whole weekend or longer was lost due to death of a character on those MUD's with serious death penalties, it thoroughly ruined my day and affect my mood IRL. Emotional attachment yes, but not a good thing. Add to that that my most nasty deaths were disconnect caused and I am sure some will understand why this was especially painful.
At what point does it become that in a RP game we dont take any risks as we dont want to pay the high price of a death. I could never play a permadeath mud as I would not dare grow attached to a character knowing they could be gone forever with one PC lockup.
Sounds a lot like.. hmmm.. real life? I dont take risks there either, but muds are escapism. Well maybe an extreme example, but I think my point is valid. When a death make you realise just how much time could be wasted / will be needed to get back if you die.. the MUD starts to become less of a game.
I dont think a MUD that already has harsh penalties for death should take a softly softly approach, but I think any game with a serious death penalty should take into consideration one thing.. how long is the player going to have to play to get back what he lost at any given level... if the answer to that is "just as long as it took in the first place maybe longer" I think its too long. I am sure I wont be the only player that starts to drift away from the serious RP muds.. and that is a shame as that is generally where the real quality lies.
Do MUD's creators not want to cater even slightly for the new generation of players who dont want to waste time after dying? or have they all just accepted that they (MUDS) will never be popular again and just cater for those who already play and accept serious death penalties?
Myself, I now play Interactive Fiction (I love test basd games) and WoW (though this is waning due to the young player base.. lets hope Age of Conan lives up to the hype), and I am having real fun again.. games are now relaxing once more.
But I miss muds, but cant let them affect my RL mood anymore, hence, I dabble but never more than a few hours per week, and never on any one MUD for too long.
What a ramble.. sorry folks
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