Re: Playtests and other game comments ... (Was Re: PBM report)

From: graham@DELETETHISaffordable-leather.co.uk

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Hi there,

On 16 Oct 2000 09:23:08 GMT, madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral) wrote:

>the "non-combatant" feature, where you can't attack or be attacked by other
>player parties but can still attack and be attacked by creatures
>
>Thats pretty much the usual method of stopping PKing, but in my opinion its
>diabolical.  I would never made a game set in a fantasy or sci-fi land where
>some weird Deux Ex Machina rule prevents players from attacking one another.
>Players *hate* it too, and you'll run into stiff opposition when they discover it.

The problem is that some people get their jollies from it and it can
really put new people off playing the game.

A parallel example: a local BBS used to have the LORD (Lair of the Red
Dragon) online game on it (sort of a MUD game).

Every time I tried to play it within a few turns of starting I found
myself being attacked by more powerful characters and getting wiped
out PDQ. After a few attempts I gave up and never bothered again.

Now consider that in a PBM, that's a potential paying customer lost.

>The secret to stopping PKing is to have in-character methods of making it a
>dead end, while not actually disallowing it at all.

Such as?

Cheers,
Graham.

References

Playtests and other game comments ... (Was Re: PBM report)
"MindShift Design" <admin@mindshiftdesign.com>
Sun, 15 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Playtests and other game comments ... (Was Re: PBM report)
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Mon, 16 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Playtests and other game comments ... (Was Re: PBM report)
"MindShift Design" <admin@mindshiftdesign.com>
Sun, 15 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Playtests and other game comments ... (Was Re: PBM report)
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Mon, 16 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000