Comments on: Item Decay http://mu.ranter.net I miss my frames. Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:15:22 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Mu http://mu.ranter.net/design-theory/economy/item-decay/comment-page-1#comment-436 Mu Sun, 23 May 2010 22:04:34 +0000 http://mu.ranter.net/design-theory/economy/item-decay#comment-436 What you're describing is pretty similar to an aging/permadeath system I worked out in a proof of concept module for NWN but got too bored to implement in a final module. The basic idea was that your character had a lifespan, which was limited by whatever you choose to overcome to inherent problem in MMOs of everyone logging in at different rates. At the end of the lifespan, you had an option to create a new character in the lineage, who got a fraction of your experience, reputation and wealth, with a higher fraction if you chose to voluntarily retire as opposed to dying in battle. Criminals executed had a lower or no fraction since their stuff would be subject to seizure, and of course you get some of the stigma attached to the criminal character. The big problem in implementation is that in order to maintain balance you need to age everyone at some rate, even guys who are permalogged, which makes things more difficult if you want to attract old players back into the game, and because casual players have less maximum potential than hardcore players due to the active hours; a casual player in a standard MMO can conceivably get to a maximum limit just like the hardcore player but it takes longer, but in an aging system the casual players are hard limited. This can be ameliorated somewhat by imposing a soft cap on overall character potential that is low enough to balance, so that the hardcore player will get there faster but unused skills decay, etc. What you’re describing is pretty similar to an aging/permadeath system I worked out in a proof of concept module for NWN but got too bored to implement in a final module. The basic idea was that your character had a lifespan, which was limited by whatever you choose to overcome to inherent problem in MMOs of everyone logging in at different rates. At the end of the lifespan, you had an option to create a new character in the lineage, who got a fraction of your experience, reputation and wealth, with a higher fraction if you chose to voluntarily retire as opposed to dying in battle. Criminals executed had a lower or no fraction since their stuff would be subject to seizure, and of course you get some of the stigma attached to the criminal character. The big problem in implementation is that in order to maintain balance you need to age everyone at some rate, even guys who are permalogged, which makes things more difficult if you want to attract old players back into the game, and because casual players have less maximum potential than hardcore players due to the active hours; a casual player in a standard MMO can conceivably get to a maximum limit just like the hardcore player but it takes longer, but in an aging system the casual players are hard limited. This can be ameliorated somewhat by imposing a soft cap on overall character potential that is low enough to balance, so that the hardcore player will get there faster but unused skills decay, etc.

]]> By: Ringwraith666 http://mu.ranter.net/design-theory/economy/item-decay/comment-page-1#comment-424 Ringwraith666 Sun, 16 May 2010 14:53:55 +0000 http://mu.ranter.net/design-theory/economy/item-decay#comment-424 Very smart. I've only played WoW, but its Durability system for equipment, while it begins to address this problem, allows for inifinite repairs. I would throw in one crazy suggestion: what if *players* wore out? What if players ages and received permanent injuries, such that a person expected - knew from the get-go - to roll up a new character every six months or so? Older grizzled veterans would get put on the shelf as their injuries took their toll, living out their remaining days as crafters and teachers, while new young bucks climbed the adventuring ladder. This could make perma-death easier to swallow. Very smart. I’ve only played WoW, but its Durability system for equipment, while it begins to address this problem, allows for inifinite repairs.

I would throw in one crazy suggestion: what if *players* wore out? What if players ages and received permanent injuries, such that a person expected – knew from the get-go – to roll up a new character every six months or so? Older grizzled veterans would get put on the shelf as their injuries took their toll, living out their remaining days as crafters and teachers, while new young bucks climbed the adventuring ladder. This could make perma-death easier to swallow.

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