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Old 11-22-2010, 09:22 AM   #15
scandum
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Re: The Art of Seach - Categorization of MU*s

I'd say it's mainly the rarity of magic and having a consistent medieval setting that makes the Lord of the Rings hard fantasy. A MUD set in middle earth may have no magic at all for the average player, making it hard fantasy, and another MUD might allow everyone to be a pimped up Gandalf with chain lightning and teleport, making it soft fantasy.

From what you described I'd say medium historical rigor and medium scientific rigor. It's a tough call going just by what you've told about the game, but if you self identify the game as hard fantasy and take player complaints about inaccuracies serious it should be alright to go for medium.

MYTHICAL RIGOR could be introduced for games with a mythical setting. Right now MUDs would use Mythical Fantasy as their subgenre, or Round Table (or something) if they want to be specific. MUDs inspired by a mixture of mythologies, or with a loose interpretation, could go for Medium.

All in all it's probably best to reserve High for games that abide by real world physics, real world history, and real world myths. An interesting consideration is whether perma death is required for scientific rigor, it'd make sense to add a separate variable for tricky stuff like that though.
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