The Chosen

Penned by Malthus

 

 

There are more MUD worlds out there than you could play in a lifetime, variations on basic codes and expanded to fit the desires of the Coders who run them. The coders invariably take titles such as Wizard, Immortal, or the more benign Admin (as in Administrator). Considering that they run the MUD, it is no wonder most have policies that state "Anything Goes" as far as Imms are concerned. Some MUDs separate the roleplaying deities from the real life Admins, but any changes made to a MUD must still be approved and implemented by a coder.

Most MUDs also have a suggestion box, often in the form of an IDEA noteboard. Those that encourage roleplay sometimes have an RP noteboard strictly used to chronicle in-character events. So with so many MUDs open to good ideas, how come none of them seem to have grasped the basic flaws inherent in the game mechanics of their remodelled source code?

In fact, many MUDs have dealt with some of the fundamental problems, which I list below:

This has been addressed on several MUDs, with languages other than the ones you have learned being scrambled like so… Mystic chats "Juehwe jhwhsy didiio ro" in drowish. Like typical RP games, intelligence determines how many languages one may learn and how many practices it takes to learn one.

This really makes or breaks the Cleric class, and if Paladins are allowed, it important for them as well.

Keeping players interested and surprised isn’t easy, but walking around just another version of Midgaard gets old really fast. It shows a lack of either time, commitment, or skill on the part of the Coders.

Most decent MUDs have addressed these issues, but that still leaves a lot of room for very obvious improvement. A few basic things that I have seen at only one or two MUDs include racial reaction (drow hate light elves, dwarves are weary of light elves, humans fear and hate drow, etc), politics (one city-state or nation versus another), banks, and an automated bounty system. These add lots of flavor and provide background material for character roleplay. It also adds to the sensiblity of the world. I mean, in what fantasy campaign do drow, dragons, and half-orcs walk around in broad daylight on the main street of a human city?

Here are some ideas that I have suggested to numerous Imms at countless MUDs that, at least to me, seem like fundamental things I would write into the game mechanics (if I knew how to code):