Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Turning Point MUD: Responding to a review

Pleos · 11-20-2003, 08:29 AM

Hey Geras,

What one person finds boring, another finds interesting. What one person finds boring, another finds challenging. I think it's all in the eye of the beholder really. When I play a MUD character I riddle him with faults, confusions and all sorts of "negative" aspects, because it's fun and challenging to play up the conflict between positive and negative traits, strengths and weaknesses. Many people do not do this, they often want the "uber powerful" char.

High elven personalities are restrictive on TP MUD, there's no disagreement there. They were designed that way. And while they're called high elves, it's dangerous to draw too many parallels with outside references to high elves. We could probably find some references that have them as nature lovers, flitting about in the forest, other references that are as you described, others still that are different from that. So there's a danger in coming into any game and saying, "Oh they have high elves, I know what those are like from such-and-such a reference."

Now it might seem that high elves are one dimensional, and certainly they are moreso than humans and other races. But that doesn't mean they're completely so. High elves have faults, like any other race, as they should. Also, there are areas of variation between high elves too that can be explored. For example, how well does your high elf character interact with humans? Currently a half-elf leads the Empire, how does your high elf character respond to that? How "snobby" is your high elf to others ("snobby" being what the other races would call it)?

There can also be inner conflict within the high elven community on how to handle everything from the affairs of Elysia (the continent they hail from), how to deal with the Darkess of Labyria, etc.

So there can definitely be variation, high elves aren't all exact copies of one another. But the variation is more subtle, requiring a more deft handle and touch. There's a certain maturity in a player's roleplay that's required to understand the nuances of a high elven personality. Humans are much clearer to us (since we are humans), and some other races have built in dichotomies and struggles already.

I think high elves in this case, "talk" to one side of many people's personalities, the good and righteous side, the bravado that we often envision having, the bit inside us that says, "Go get them and take them out!" Each of the races that are specialized in some way (i.e. are not as loose and open as humans) "talk" to some trait within us. When we're in the mood to be dastardly and evil, we can play a dark elf, and really explore those feelings within ourselves, or at least express some of that in a pure form of a dark elf. And so on.

Furthermore, high elves ultimately can end up walking a different path - perhaps they do have legitimate reason to sway from the Light, but then the other high elves and ultimately, the Gods, will step in.

Hope that helps, Geras.

Pleos

(PS. Wanna email me about the one inconsistency you mentioned? *smile* -- )

11-20-2003, 08:29 AM	#19
Pleos Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 36	Hey Geras, What one person finds boring, another finds interesting. What one person finds boring, another finds challenging. I think it's all in the eye of the beholder really. When I play a MUD character I riddle him with faults, confusions and all sorts of "negative" aspects, because it's fun and challenging to play up the conflict between positive and negative traits, strengths and weaknesses. Many people do not do this, they often want the "uber powerful" char. High elven personalities are restrictive on TP MUD, there's no disagreement there. They were designed that way. And while they're called high elves, it's dangerous to draw too many parallels with outside references to high elves. We could probably find some references that have them as nature lovers, flitting about in the forest, other references that are as you described, others still that are different from that. So there's a danger in coming into any game and saying, "Oh they have high elves, I know what those are like from such-and-such a reference." Now it might seem that high elves are one dimensional, and certainly they are moreso than humans and other races. But that doesn't mean they're completely so. High elves have faults, like any other race, as they should. Also, there are areas of variation between high elves too that can be explored. For example, how well does your high elf character interact with humans? Currently a half-elf leads the Empire, how does your high elf character respond to that? How "snobby" is your high elf to others ("snobby" being what the other races would call it)? There can also be inner conflict within the high elven community on how to handle everything from the affairs of Elysia (the continent they hail from), how to deal with the Darkess of Labyria, etc. So there can definitely be variation, high elves aren't all exact copies of one another. But the variation is more subtle, requiring a more deft handle and touch. There's a certain maturity in a player's roleplay that's required to understand the nuances of a high elven personality. Humans are much clearer to us (since we are humans), and some other races have built in dichotomies and struggles already. I think high elves in this case, "talk" to one side of many people's personalities, the good and righteous side, the bravado that we often envision having, the bit inside us that says, "Go get them and take them out!" Each of the races that are specialized in some way (i.e. are not as loose and open as humans) "talk" to some trait within us. When we're in the mood to be dastardly and evil, we can play a dark elf, and really explore those feelings within ourselves, or at least express some of that in a pure form of a dark elf. And so on. Furthermore, high elves ultimately can end up walking a different path - perhaps they do have legitimate reason to sway from the Light, but then the other high elves and ultimately, the Gods, will step in. Hope that helps, Geras. Pleos (PS. Wanna email me about the one inconsistency you mentioned? smile -- )