MMOs exist because of MUD, which exists because of Adventure!, which exists because of Colossal Cave which exists because of Zork.
In the end, all things online are Zork.
MMOs exist because of MUD, which exists because of Adventure!, which exists because of Colossal Cave which exists because of Zork.
In the end, all things online are Zork.
3D math functions were put into the Tinys due to Battletech and Star Trek games. @faraday wants to make Ares as comfortable to us Mushlike users, and her games are space games, so range et al. isn’t at all odd.
Which is why I was unthrilled by news of Ghost Recon. If there isn’t a story then there better be just unmitigated fun.
@auspice said in Cheap or Free Games!:
Now here's a game that I wouldn't mind the endless grind. I played some other cheap-as-free FPS military game similar to Ghost Recon and I didn't even finish a fourth of it because every. Damn. Mission. Was the same.
But I've heard so much good about The Line that...yeah, plus one million for the heads up.
@faraday said in Favorite Minigames:
I've +scavenged seven times this month and all I keep getting is this lousy Cheese Hat.
Weighted systems.
WEIGHTED SYSTEMS.
Holy shit, I didn't think of this before.
Mind you, you can't weigh it too much. That is, reset the weight when you get a result that isn't Junk Roll.
--
An example "Lay Pool" location that was designed for The Reach looked vaguely like this:
Everyone with any sense of systems can see the immediate problem with this. What I wanted to develop was a balance to it, so that it would never spawn until players got involved. In fact, letting a nexus stay around could spawn negative...mobs? Spirits? Effects? But not so much so that the game would be overrun, because the point is to let a system tick over day by day, week by week, to give players something to do.
Thinking of RPGs as MMOs puts a lot of clarification on Mu* design.
@lotherio said in Favorite Minigames:
Sort of what @Thenomain may have been getting at by referencing combat as a minigame, one they may not like buy in essance a side element of a MU that some people enjoy or look forward too.
This was the thrust of it, yes. What Is a Mini-Game? I think we don't have a solid idea, but that it's optional seems to be key. Sometimes games put up things that are meant to be optional but end up being the kind of thing that if you don't engage with it, e.g. crafting or buying or getting crafted hand-me-downs, that you can't engage with the core game as well as those who did, that's the kind of thing that people don't particularly like. (Unless they want to engage with it, of course.)
One of the major complaints of D&D 3/3.5 was that you needed magic items to build a credible character at higher levels, thus taking the core game fun out of it for quite a few people who would rather have focused on their character and leave the crafting subsystem alone.
Can someone realistically play an enjoyable game of Arx without clues or interacting with people who are using clues for RP? If not, then it's probably not a minigame. Ark's comment about soul-binding crafted items got me thinking about combat in the same light; if you don't focus on combat for your character on Game X then is it a minigame? How about combat being something you could ignore completely; does that make it a minigame? What is a minigame?
@asherwolfstein said in FuzzBallMUCK (fbmuck) new installation questions:
I'm excited to be part of this community and to learn as much as I can all about MPI, MUF, and MUCKs in general!
I will say that this particular community is mostly in the Tinys. TinyMUSH, TinyMUCK, PennMUSH, RhostMUSH and occasionally you'll find one of us dinos who know TinyTIM.
We also have quite a few MUDders here, and we've been crossing the line with Ares and Evennia.
However, our last known MUCKer left us to make waves and history with Ponyfinder. Yes, Nuku tended to squick me to no end, but for MUF and inclusion and answers he was brilliant.
He's found his new calling and it seems he's left this bizarre hobby. Godspeed to him and I sincerely wish him the best of luck.
Maybe someone else who knows MUCKs will make noise for you, so hang tight and see what comes of it.
@wretched said in MUSH Marriages (IC):
@deadempire Yeah, run away from that person fast. There are a few of those people out there, toxic AF. I h ad one time where i was RPing with a person, and her IC boyfriend kept paging us both while we were in the scene trying to figure out what was going on. Paranoia and possession run deep with some people. It's mucho creepy.
Well, I mean, to be fair, Jack was an asshole.
Okay okay okay, you could be talking about almost any online dude with an IC girlfriend, but the point still stands: Jack was an asshole.
Hm.
Is combat a mini game?
If so, I still don’t think I’ve engaged in a mini game that I’ve really enjoyed, tho I understand that a lot of people liked it on The Greatest Generation.
@cobaltasaurus said in Cheap or Free Games!:
@thenomain said in Cheap or Free Games!:
Considering how much fun I have extracted from it, Tabletop Simulator even at full price is cheap for what you get.
$250 worth of Eldritch Horror and expansions? Free. Spawning endless bees on the board when @Cobaltasaurus completely creams me at Qwirkle? Priceless.
The number of times I pulled out a piece you needed/wanted was unreal.
Considering how much fun I have extracted from it, Tabletop Simulator even at full price is cheap for what you get.
$250 worth of Eldritch Horror and expansions? Free. Spawning endless bees on the board when @Cobaltasaurus completely creams me at Qwirkle? Priceless.
This is odd because the latest macOS, High Sierra, is also an asshole. Are the Big Two getting complacent? Grr.
Stop trying to inject humor into my disaffected hipster shtick.
Naw, I’m kidding, this has become pretty funny.
@nightshade said in What's missing in MUSHdom?:
As far as affecting the setting, I’ve never needed tools for that, just permission from staff.
This is a sandbox. Make your own fun and leave staff alone.
...What?
If you're complaining that WoD games end up being social MU*s with RPG elements, give them other elements
I don't think you know what I was complaining about, no. I can with absolute authority say that "do something different" is easy to say but hard to assure, especially if players are going to default to the same ol' same ol'. I've seen many games use that default as the basis for their systems, which makes sense to me, but saying, doing, and succeeding are three widely different things.
Or not, keep making sandboxes that fail to engage.
... What? Darkwater: Engaging. Fate's Harvest: Engaging. Some people find Reno engaging. So I'm wondering what conversation you think I'm having, but I don't think it's the same conversation that you're having.
I could simply not understand the conversation you're having, but as of now I don't find it engaging and so I'm disengaging.
Double post, sorry.
@nightshade said in What's missing in MUSHdom?:
What are you going to scene about if the setting is boring (without inherent conflict), and the game gives you no tools for affecting the setting and other players in a meaningful, productive way?
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. If the setting doesn’t engage, then why even log in?
As far as affecting the setting, I’ve never needed tools for that, just permission from staff.
The tools make this easier, and thus more time effective, and thus more likely to be followed though, but it starts with someone saying “yes”. After that, I’m free.
That is a very good answer, thank you.
I have, after thinking about it longer, decided that there is nothing wrong with a social game with RPG elements. The main reason I haven’t tried for a Fallout game (offered to code, mainly) is that I’m well aware that it will probably end up as Bland In the Nuclear Glow, but it’s my number one reason to be excited for the downtime systems being developed so that a game like that can be made and not be toothless. (New Vegas would make for a good stable setting, tho, or anywhere in NCR.)
I’m not giving up my thesis that we don’t need a time investment to have good story telling RP.
I can start a scene in five minutes. It doesn’t take time, it takes willingness, acceptance, and effort to overcome inertia. It takes a critical mass of people willing to try, and a game willing to let them.
Some of this does have to do with timing, which is out of control of the individual, and the aforementioned game willing to let them take an idea and run with it (or have solid ground rules about what running with it means), but it shouldn’t have to eat up our day.