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Old 06-05-2002, 11:35 AM   #4
Pleos
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 36
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As one of my fellow Imms says on the MUD we play -- game balance before realism!

Realism has it's place, most definitely, but in the case of a "fantasy-based" MUD, there's a reason it's called "fantasy".

I can see the point about eating, as being a nuisance, it depends on the MUD, the purpose of it, etc.

I think realism has a place, but it depends on what we're talking about.

For example, most MUDs have a lot of different races - from pixies to giants - and in most RP MUDs pixies and giants can fight and do damage to each other. When, in reality, there's no way really that a pixie with a tiny thimble sword could inflict much damage on a 20-foot giant. But without balancing these races to some degree, it would cause infinite amounts of trouble.

The flipside to that logic is that giants couldn't really hit pixies either, because they'd barely be able to see them...

So once you get into logic of that sort, it's a slippery slope that will likely ruin any balance that can be achieved.

Other instances where realism might be difficult is with sleeping -- most of us in the real world need to sleep daily, but most MUDs I've seen don't really work on that principle. The simple reason, I think, is that it would be too much of a hassle to have to sleep every 12 hours or so, and then sleep for 5-8 hours to recuperate. That would mean most people would spend somewhere around a 3rd of their time sleeping. Just doesn't make sense for a game, but makes sense in the concept of realism.

So there's plenty of instances where realism can be left on the sidelines in the interests of fun, balance and gameplay.

But of course if things get too out of control, then people might find that distracting as well unless there are explanations ICly within the game for the wacky stuff going on. Balance...that's the goal, I think.

Pleos.
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