Aspects of MUDs #1

Death

This is the first of several small articles exploring various aspects of MUDs. I wrote to many wizzes from other MUDs asking their views and have including a few of their comments in italics. The first part of this series is about how PK'ing (or restricted PK'ing), permanent death and mobiles effects a mud ...

Death comes to you sooner or later in mud life, but death is not the same in every mud. In numerous MUDs I've played you never die absolutely, you only ever lose points and hp's (more or less a silly death in MUD2 terms). Then when you die you go to an afterlife maze to recover. It's then a case of eventually leaving to find your corpse, recollecting your items and carrying on. This death often seems tedious, but it is not as bad as permanent death that can cost you more.

One thing I've always liked in MUD2 was that if you died in a fight, either to a mortal or a mobile, you lost the lot - no second chances. The first time your highlife character is killed DEAD DEAD you are usually left feeling gutted, but that is the whole point. It makes the reset more exciting knowing you could lose a valuable character altogether if you slip up, especially if you've been building up for many resets. Perhaps you could compare it to gambling - the more you stand to win or lose the more the excitement.

In some MUDs if you die (in a fight) you lose your level/skills/spells/hp's/etc and basically start from scratch again. In others you simply lose a few points and then are reincarnated, as stated above.

I asked whether permanent death was a good feature for a mud to have, but I found this type of fate wasn't seen as a positive thing by the majority I contacted (at least 90% were against permanent death in their MUD). It was interesting to learn they all had similar reasoning ...

A quote from the Kingdoms of the Lost wiz will give you an example - "As for 'final death', I am largely against it. There are too many things that can go wrong. Loss of connection, exploited bug, etc. If a MUD chooses to go this route, and they fully advertise this as the 'way things are done', then the player knows what they are getting into. It does not suit me personally, nor likely 90% of my MUD's players. Few people would want to invest a ton of time, unless they were with the MUD from the very beginning, where competition was slim and they could build up quickly. It might prove challenging to pull in new players and keep them."

Some muds can go into great detail about what the guy that kills you or finds your possessions can and can't do, which I think can become slightly excessive sometimes. Others can often have a ban on double-teaming or even collecting items from someone you didn't kill yourself. This might sound good when you're a newbie but I feel, as death becomes an inconvenience more than a real threat the game can lose its edge.

Initially, I never liked fighting mortals at all, but after experiencing other MUDs I realised just how much of a difference this makes to me. It seems to give the overall environment an edge over the more restricted MUDs. But it's not just unrestricted PK'ing, as I never play in unrestricted PK'ing MUDs. This is because personally I like ones that give freedom of choice and attract players with differing views and who don't just see it as "Quake In Text". To me MUD2 is a bit like life in that you meet people who have differing views.

After playing MUD2 for a while I found trying to outwit or dodge a more aggressive PK enemy sometimes makes the game the more challenging. This can often help to build camaraderie between a band of otherwise indifferent morts that may start teaming up as a result. I've wondered with the threat of death being less, is there also less urgency for unknown players to interact?

I said PK'ing could be good but where is the limit and I've received many varied answers. I, like many, others ventured into The Land at a time when there was a handful of notorious and deadly PK's but also players that would help you out against the common foe - yet without that would may players have stayed?

One of the wizzes I asked was the founder of AethiaMUD about how PK'ing affects a mud - "...there's a balance that should keep the game from being ruined for many people because of roaming pk'ers. I've played Muds that don't allow pk'ing at all, and they just get boring. I mean, it's pretty much like a 1-player game, except you can chat with others or maybe get help killing a monster. If you get really powerful, no real reward except the ability to kill stronger mobs. I've also played the other end of the spectrum; Muds that allow unlimited pk with no regulations or restrictions. I typically left within the first 5 minutes or so."

PKing can be good, it can also turn your experience into a boring one by being constantly run out of the game by a more experienced players. I've heard so many times from people who left the Wireplay incarnation saying it was because the balance went. Fighting became more irritating and you know it's time to pack it in when some guy won't stop hassling your yeoman with his mage with a combination of real life and in-game abuse for no reason bar easy points.

Another quote from the founder of AethiaMUD - "Although many MUDs differ in culture, I've found that player-killing tends to be a healthy aspect of the game, but only if it is regulated within a certain policy boundary. Newbies, for example, can be easily scared-off if they get killed at random by some level 50 veteran. Also, it can very easily ruin the game for someone who develops an enemy (or enemies) who decides to keep killing him until he leaves."

Out of all the MUDs I contacted (that allowed restricted PK'ing) they mostly had rules specifying that you can only pk after a certain level or with a difference in levels. What really makes the biggest difference? In-game experience or simply stats? Most of them pointed out experience, speed and cunning play just as much a vital role as stats, powers or gap in levels.

As the KOTL Wiz put it - "To say 'what makes the biggest difference' really depends on the MUD. I know in a lot of godwars MUDs, especially as a lower hp character, having good eq can end a fight before experience has a chance to play a considerable factor. I've also seen many a talented player used combinations of skills and spells to overcome an opponent of superior level and/or equipment."

Another point made by some wizzes was that's not just player vs. player combat that makes a different but also how believable (deadly?) the mobiles are. I've be in a mud where any hobbit at a certain level could attack a dragon, yet be able to defeat whilst being minimally armed, due to sheer difference in hp's. In MUD2 the dragon seems more realistic. When you venture onto the Dragon Isle to kill the dragon for the first time, it actually feels like you are going to try and kill something that could mean your immediate demise, not just another easy mobile. Unless you're lucky your incineration by the dragons fiery breath means instant death!