Richard Bartle: "MMOs are for Newbies"

[Jasede]

This is true. Like I said, it is not very newbie friendly, and if you do not live in the US, you will not meet many players. There are 30, 40 on AT PEAK TIMES. The best course of action is to join a guild (with strict entry requirements) to find other players. The only map I remember is in ASCII and only for the main city state, Allanak, which is where most players are.

Oh, and yes, it is impossible to tell NPCs from PCs. This I consider a good feature, actually. The game even has a think command you can basically use to write your character's thoughts. (This is important for the DMs, but of course, no one but you and them can read that.)

 

[Shoelip]

It looks interesting, but it seems like it would be really easy for someone to just sit around ganking new characters as soon as they spawn.

It also seems like there would be allot of characters with amnesia whose players didn't want to read all the documentation.

 

[Jasede]

You forget that this is an RP server. No one respawns. When you die, you die. Creating a new character takes time because you need to apply for each and every character. If your character's background does not hint at you having read and understood the background of the world, there is no chance he will be accepted. If your writing is too bad, he will not be accepted. If you dare to play a character with amnesia, you have to write this into the background and have to have a damn good reason for it.

 

[ixg]

Well, I got accepted after sending it in last night, so I still have to play and see if I like it. So far, the strict "better know how to write" rules suit me fine. Plenty of stuff to read also.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

For this Armageddon MUD, when you say "better know how to write" do we have to respond in paragraphs for our actions and/or talking or just one or two lines suffice?

That mantis race does look interesting though.

 

[Jasede]

Know how to write does not mean "always write ten lines". The greatest writers manage to say much using few words. The mantis race, and mages, and many other classes are only available to great roleplayers and as such will not be selectable for a newcomer.

Example of how it might look:

[Refer to the website for examples.]

 

[DarkSign]

Come on now...all that wasnt necessary.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

Bah, too much effort.

 

[Shoelip]

You forget that this is an RP server. No one respawns. When you die, you die. Creating a new character takes time because you need to apply for each and every character. If your character's background does not hint at you having read and understood the background of the world, there is no chance he will be accepted. If your writing is too bad, he will not be accepted. If you dare to play a character with amnesia, you have to write this into the background and have to have a damn good reason for it.

Note that I didn't say respawn, I said spawn, as in for the first time. So what keeps one player from ganking every newbie as soon as they first appear?

Oh yeah, I did read allot of the background information on the game but my background didn't hint that I had done so, and I even forgot to add goals I still got accepted. I guess they were going easy on me because I've never played. :D So off to Allanak and hopefully not to my imediate doom.

Edit: So I played a while and wondered around until I found the bazaar, tried to buy scrab meat but instead bough a scrab leg, finally figured out how to use the numbers to buy stuff and wondered around looking for a waterskin. Then I lost my connection. It was definately confusing, but it looks like I may figure it out eventually.

 

[kenney bounces]

I agree with most of what the author wrote up until the point where he declared perma-death and non-instancing as superior gameplay mechanics for the long term.

It's superior only if the gamer has 8 hours to play everyday.

It's not if you're targetting a "normal" population that has to work/school and plans on having a family.

 

[Nedrah]

That's the problem with modern gaming really. The developers have to keep the "normal guy" in mind if they want to make any money at all. No wonder games were an entirely different beast when the games would be produced for the game-geeks and web-nerds.