<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...) --> <!--X-From-R13: "Rnzvba Epuhoreg" <mwvevnNgrknf.arg> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 21:38:27 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 002701bdafab$0ce14440$f903cfcf@Painland --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Ma</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00219.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00221.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00205.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00203.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00220">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00220">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00220">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Damion Schubert" <<A HREF="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 23:43:01 -0500</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> S. Patrick Gallaty wrote: >You know, I've wondered why UO doesn't do something like just that. >(And now that I think of it, the opposite too) >They could make new servers with altered code : > >1) Haven > Players have to apply to create characters here. Their characters > are only accepted if the reviewer likes the name and role-play > character that the biography suggests. If players complain about > other players on this shard, the players risk being suspended > pending review - and role playing is enforced. > >And for the conflict seeking set : > >2) The Toilet > A server with no guards or guard zones. Lots of treasure. PK > war hell. On Meridian 59, we decided to try a bold experiment, which we called 'Sacred Haven'. We launched one server which would be a safe land only, and let players who wanted to start accounts on that server. This little experiment went live last September. Meridian had several no-PK switches and areas which extended easily to the rest of the world. The entire conversion took me three days - two days of coding, and one day of debugging. Of course, the problem was that Meridian was designed with player-vs-player scenarios in mind, and in a world that was completely safe, these scenarios became hopelessly broken. As an example, the primary scenario in Meridian is guild halls, which players can raid and conquer. Well, if you can't kill invaders, this can obviously get very old. Thus, the guild halls are simply given away on a first-come, first-serve basis. A lot of other minor things were broken. For example, some spells in Meridian can only target other players. These all had to be removed from the advancement math, as well as the game as a whole. And quite a handful of text messages don't make sense if you're not playing in a world where you can kill other people. However, my design principle behind this conversion was 'one codebase'. I didn't want my code tree to fork enough to dramatically increase QA cycles and maintenance load. My co-designers were skeptical that we should take this tactic. They were worried primarily that the product would appear unprofessional. However, the unfinished, unprofessional nature of the server probably contributed to its success. Players were aware from the beginning that this was an experiment launched from player demand, and asked surprisingly little. They were aware that our number one priority was the support of the 'real' servers We didn't use invitations or validate accounts. Unfortunately, validating those accounts would be prohibitively expensive. However, we didn't really need to. Most PKers stayed on the 'real' servers, having high-powered characters there and loathe to start all over on a place where they didn't know of any loopholes or exploits. I doubt we would have been so successful if we had launched Sacred Haven at the same time we initially launched the game. As it was, Sacred Haven was a pretty tidy little success. We toyed with the idea of a Meridian server which was similar to your 'Toilet' concept. Our idea was to leave the code base exactly the same as our 'real' servers, but to play up the PK attitude. "Think you're tough? Come and play with REAL PKers!" A nice side effect is that it gives roleplayers additional vitriole against PKers. "Sure you can kill us tailors and blacksmiths! But you're not MAN enough to go to Meridian: PKLand!" Of course, many killers care more about making defenseless players squirm than proving themselves on an equal field of battle, but if you can get even a mid-sized hunk of them off the battlefield..... unfortunately, the idea sort of fell to the wayside and then I left the project, so I doubt it'll ever happen. --damion </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00219.html">[MUD-Dev] [Java] multithreading: update and a question</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00221.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Java] multithreading: update and a question</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00205.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00203.html">[MUD-Dev] Amit's Games Programming Page</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00220"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00220"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: [Java] multithreading: update and a question</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00234" HREF="msg00234.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Java] multithreading: update and a question</A></strong>, Vadim Tkachenko <a href="mailto:vt#freehold,crocodile.org">vt#freehold,crocodile.org</a>, Thu 16 Jul 1998, 04:17 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00233" HREF="msg00233.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Java] multithreading: update and a question</A></strong>, Nathan F Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Thu 16 Jul 1998, 01:53 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00206" HREF="msg00206.html">[MUD-Dev] [OT] Private emails</A></strong>, Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Tue 14 Jul 1998, 18:05 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00205" HREF="msg00205.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)</A></strong>, Maddy <a href="mailto:maddy#fysh,org">maddy#fysh,org</a>, Tue 14 Jul 1998, 13:24 GMT <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00220" HREF="msg00220.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)</A></strong>, Damion Schubert <a href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</a>, Wed 15 Jul 1998, 04:38 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00203" HREF="msg00203.html">[MUD-Dev] Amit's Games Programming Page</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Tue 14 Jul 1998, 11:01 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00191" HREF="msg00191.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re:Wire</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Mon 13 Jul 1998, 17:31 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00189" HREF="msg00189.html">[MUD-Dev] META: MUD-Dev is a NewHoo "Cool Site"</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Mon 13 Jul 1998, 16:40 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00188" HREF="msg00188.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re:Wired Magazine...)</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Mon 13 Jul 1998, 15:51 GMT </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>