Choosing Game Characteristics

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As you know if you've been playing for a significant amount of time, MUDs come in all shapes and sizes. The first thing you need to decide when creating a MUD is what kind of MUD it should be.

MUD guru, Dr. Richard Bartle, in his famous article " Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs, " categorizes four types of MUD players: killers, socializers , achievers , and explorers. Because of the diversity of MUD plays, it's impossible to tailor a MUD to suit one specific category of player.

I've seen MUDs in which people don't take time to talk; they do nothing but compete to be number one on the ranking list. I've also seen MUDs in which no one uses any of the MUD features; they use the game essentially as a chat room.

Obviously, when creating your own MUD, you've got to consider which of these characteristics you want to emphasize . Do you want people to socialize? Fight against each other? Explore new areas? Try to win?

I prefer a healthy mix of all these characteristics. Obviously socializing is a must; without it, what's the point of having a multiuser game? But, of course, you'll want some aspect of exploration in your game as well; it keeps your game fresh in the minds of players. Competition is good to have, whether direct through killing other players, or indirect through gaining more points than everyone else. Competition compels people to play the game and to continue playing to beat everyone else.

So with this in mind, the SimpleMUD will be designed to combine an equal distribution of four characteristics: socializing, participating in a multiuser game, exploring, and competing.

So what kinds of things should you plan for? The game will be the classic type with nothing fancythis is a simple MUD, after all. A setting needs to be chosen first, and that partly determines the attributes and features of players, as well as the enemies. Items and the map structure will also be considered .

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MUD Game Programming
MUD Game Programming (Premier Press Game Development)
ISBN: 1592000908
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 147
Authors: Ron Penton

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