Re: long-term fun

From: "Enno Rehling" <rehling@usa.net>

Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

>There have been various ways that have been tried, of course.
>
>Alliance or 'noble family' structures can help, with elder players
>concentrating on competing with each other while shielding newcomers as
>useful allies.

We had that happen at some time, although it was not in the rules - it
happened because younger and elder players were living too close to each
other . An alliance was recruiting younger factions to help them in their
battles. The young factions were quickly boosted by the older ones, and they
missed out on a lot of the initial "expand and explore" phase of the game.
Which is sad, since that is an interesting phase. Also, when the scheme
failed (for several reasons) and the alliance crumbled, many young players
were left without guidance and Enemies of strong factions that they
otherwise would not have dreamed to make an enemy of.
Basically, I don't like the idea of old factions taking away the freedom of
the young factions, and using them as replaceable cannonfodder. And that's
what happened.

>Or players can be required only to compete with those of equal
>experience (a league structure). Hard to make this plausible for a
>strategy game, maybe?

No, and not much fun. It doesn't feel right to be a second-rate player in
the game. If you play, you want the illusion and the possibility of making
one of those old players your enemy. You might as well start two differnt
games, if you plan on seperating young from elder in such a technical way.

The other thing is to spawn younger players in a part of the world where the
elder players haven't yet been. Make it hard for them to touch the young
ones. If travel is difficult, and mass troop movement hard, then the young
will be quite save, but not completeely, from being overrun. That's the
solution we use right now.
It has it's drawbacks, too. The young complain that there's not much
interaction with the old. And the old have a much more severe problem: When
they start dropping out, the "old world" gets less and less inhabited, and
less interesting. It gets even harder to achieve long-term fun when the
people around you drop out without being refreshed.

>NPC forces are the usual way to redress imbalances. These can be
>plausible, but it's difficult for a GM to know when to invoke them
>without being accused of favouritism.

Yes, and if you apply them randomly, the young will complain about them
being "too hard". You can't find a logical excuse to have them attack elder
players only, either. And NPC forces don't _really_ add to the fun, just to
making other things the plaers want to do harder. "Let sleeping dragons
lie", the proverb says, and thius, none of the great Wyrms of Eressea that
haunt the outer glacial regions have seen any brave hunters that trck them
down yet. Most people stay at home and hope the dragons won't come their
way. *sigh*

Enno.

References

long-term fun
"Enno Rehling" <rehling@usa.net>
Tue, 02 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Sat, 06 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

long-term fun
"Enno Rehling" <rehling@usa.net>
Tue, 02 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Sat, 06 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000