Olympia: Basic Flaw? From: srt@aero.org (Scott "TCB" Turner) Date: Wed, 13 May 1992 05:17:51 +0000 To my mind, one of the basic flaws with Olympia is that players can exchange information freely "behind the scenes". It really robs the game of its fantasy/medieval flavor to have people mailing around maps, market analyses and what not. I think I'd prefer - or at least I think it would be interesting - a game where such free exchange of information is not available, or at least more difficult. Some steps towards this: (1) Eliminate all the unrealistic information, like the "top ten lists" and the deaths/new player listings. (I mean, really, why should someone in Drassa know about a death in Camaris?) (2) Conceal player identities. Don't publish the lists of e-mail addresses, force everyone to use the player mail server. Obviously, this isn't a complete solution - people can still use newsgroups like this one to figure out who's playing, etc. - but it would at least give people to the option to remain anonymous if they so chose. (3) Have individual link numbers for each player faction. I know this presents a messy programming problem, but while people could still exchange connectivity maps, you'd at least have to do your own exploring to find the right "link names". (4) Have the Olympia map be more like "islands in a vast sea". This will encourage people to withhold information about their little island, about undiscovered islands, and so on. It would also go a long way towards solving the newbie problem, because you could start each pack of newbies on a new island. Anyway, just some initial thoughts. Take with a boulder of salt. -- Scott T. Referenced By Up