BLUEPRINT FOR AN ONLINE RPG by 'MANDA Copyright 1996. Please cite the author in derivative works, as a courtesy. @read new on *design Message 39 on *Design (#259): Date: Mon Feb 12 09:03:21 1996 MST From: Tormac (#646) To: *Design (#259) Subject: Outline for an RP Mud Hi, everybody. I'd like to show you the outline I've written; I'm going to start work on an RP mud very soon. I've categorized things into three categories, each of which shouldn't be started until the previous list(s) are done. Please note that the symbols ---> are used to mean "yields", that is, I'm showing you "output" of a command. This outline should give us a good idea of how far along Arcadia is or isn't. --Unicorn p.s.: the following posts are lengthy. :) -------------------------- Message 40 on *Design (#259): Date: Mon Feb 12 09:06:17 1996 MST From: Tormac (#646) To: *Design (#259) Subject: PRIORITY 1 OUTLINE 1. Necessary for Staff to Communicate and Be Inspired A. Email B. Single-line quickmail- @qsend C. Globally readable bulletin boards- (what they will contain in future) i. MANDATORY FOR ALL- Announcements ii. MANDATORY FOR WIZZEN iii. Theme- Official "Genre" and Background iv. Projects- Who's working on What v. Bugs vi. Suggestions & Rebuttals vii. Building viii. RPG- Character Generation; combat ix. Organizations- Info, whom to contact to join. D. Wizard/MUSH Rules & Philosophy (General Wizard Duties) i. The Player is your guest. Welcome Guests; help Newbies. Smile (or @hide. ;) ii. Who's in charge? Who is this game really for? (Varies! :) iii. Autonomy. Any institution that requires constant Wizard intervention or supervision is a serious weakness in the game's design. Irresponsible wizzen will shirk duties of this kind; responsible ones will make the mud dependent upon them, and when they must leave, it cripples the game. Some even permit the hoarding of power in a way that, once it has occurred, is extremely difficult to undo. Examples of existing non-autonomous versions of functions of this kind: Applications for Features-- AmberMUSH. Subject to nepotism Membership into Organizations/Player Classes-- PernMUSHes; Impression. Causes absurd ego swelling and wasted player time. (What makes you think I came to Pern to be a farmer?) Special-case Code Exceptions-- GohsMUSH. Only two of the Wizzen can do the changes to the character's statistics, such as carrying capacity. TinyPlots-- CryptMUSH. `Running a Quest' on a dikuMUD gave rise to the `Storyteller' species of Wizard/GameMaster. On Crypt, the GM's are supposed to run `adventures' like a classic D&D pencil/paper/dice GM. Fine for short-term games but the mud does not grow beyond 20 players. Players play 7 days a week, 8 hours a day, yet expect GM's to be constantly coming up with `new' things. GMs are nice but the game shouldn't depend on them. iv. Separation of OOC and IC (This can be supported by a convention to preface all pages, comm channel blurbs, non-IC spoofs, coded game effects, etc. with the same few characters. Recommended: {{ For MOO, this keeps the more creative and spammy page-preface and page-received messages from violating the continuity. Imagine the following example with and without the {{'s. (Extra Credit Priority 3 Feep- default to this feature on, and permit it to be turned off by those who are using ANSI to separate things, or who don't happen to like it.)) {{ From afar, Illuminari pages, "Goede morgen!" Theramond comes in from the street. {{ A firelizard blinks in from between, with a message from Twink. *E pages, "Man, I just really blew it on my finals. :( Could I please borrow your copy of Windows 95?" Theramond says, "Good day, my lord. I trust you slept well in my little dungeon?" You say, "Let me go, Lord Theramond. I didn't steal the brooch!" {{ New mail received, from Gilva. Theramond's eyes turn to pale ice. "Then why were you in my niece's study last night?" {{ You page Twink with, "aw, I'm sorry to hear it. sure you can borrow Win. Hey, Tamara asked me to tell you she has a crush on you." {{ Twink thinks he is being terribly creative and interesting with this complicated message telling you about the pink zebras that prance across your mind. In a mystical revelation, you realize that he has received your page. E. @Hide: Removes player from the WHO list. *This is a non-trivial change but the huge reduction of online neuroses makes me consider it a necessity on a par spaying your pets and locking your car. =) F. MotD-- Message of the Day G. To Do devices (In MOO, the "gopher slate".) ((END OF PRIORITY 1 OUTLINE by Unicorn)) 2. Necessary to Be Open to the Public A. Coded character generation, Edition 1 B. Coded conflict resolution system Y/N? Rules for Posed combat otherwise. C. Virtual time system (all outdoor rooms should use it. +time tells you the virtual time, and use the same command for weather: {{ It's morning. It's raining. D. Virtual economy Y/N? (add starting cash in to chargen! I've never seen this get done on an RP mud; there's just too many other things to do, and too much Wiz control over objects like armor/weapons is a hindrance to RP. Contrast GohsMUSH, AmberMUSH, and GhostMOO for different @create rules.) E. Seats/Places/Tables (ubiquitous; follow MUSH conventions!!!!!!!!!) F. +Hangouts -- Lists any "Hangouts" and how many people are there. An excellent alternative to +where (which requires invention, coding and player-learning of mechanics of Haven ("hiding", "unfindable"). The main complaint with +where is that it is unrealistic. +hangouts is a compromise to further RP. G. @Staff; @wizards; @go-on-duty/off-duty H. Coded support of OOC: i. teleporting to The OOC Nexus, and back to .last_IC_location ii. speaking/posing OOCly--- 1. ooc ---> {{ OOC }} Richard says, "Gotta run; got class in 3 minutes!" 2. ooc : ---> {{ OOC }} Damia_Swan groans. "I can't talk!" I. "core" "public" areas built (If you have +hangouts or an @where kind of command, you only need 3-10 public locations, especially if they have Seats! Even in an RP universe, textual virtual reality only -needs- a really tiny number of public rooms.) J. Player education center (rooms, not news!) i. Never mudded? How to say, emote, @desc, @lock, etc. ii. Never RP mudded? Conventions of RP, etc. iii. Basic source material info. Our Theme. Existing factions. iv. The Etiquette and Rules of Posed Combat (if Coded isn't done) K. Rules for Players (alts; Consent; subject material bans (rape, because there are players who have really experienced it? public nudity? etc.) L. MOOs: ...Compatability with the other 95% of the mud world. =) i. For MOOs: MUSH/MUCK/MUSE aliases for the following: 1. @desc me as @desc me= 2. page page = p = 3. @qsend page #mail = +mail = 4. whisper "" to whisper = w = 5. @quit QUIT (all caps!) (I've heard lots of arguments about how doing this can cause problems on a MOO. We've done it on GhostMOO this way for 2 years and I personally say the familiarity it gives new MUSH/MUCK/MUSE- acclimated guests and players is well worth the inconvenience to established MOO coders. :) 6. @who WHO ii. For MOOs: equivalents of the following MUSH/MUCK/MUSE commands: 1. @edit (This is used for editting all MUSH/MUSE properties. The way to do it in MOO is to @notedit, then s/// which is awkward because you have to `list' to find .) @typo . "" / "" @typo here.description "baccon"/"bacon" (I recommend the following alias be implemented as well, because it's most useful for MUCK/MUSE-acclimated guests:) MOO: MUCK: @typo me ""/"" @edit me/desc=, @typo here ""/"" @edit here/desc=, (* MUSH/MUSE uses { and } to enclose literal text. So if there is a , in then ought to be enclosed in {}'s.} 2. page-emotes-- p =: p Joe=:grins. ---> {{ From afar, Joe grins. 3. whisper-emotes-- w =: w Mariah=:weeps! ---> {{ In a private whisper-pose to you, Mariah weeps! (#2 & #3 are ubiquitous. It's annoying that they don't work this way in MOO!) 4. +finger (This command can help you decide if you'd like to get to know somebody, and is kind of like a virtual "first impression".) +finger Robin ---> {{ Robin's Plan {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ { @Gender: Female Race: Human Age:9 {{Type: Player { { @Short Desc: a 9 yr old tomboy in a tattered yellow cape { { @Position: none I'm an orphan { { @Email: just @qsend please. :) { { @Reputation: If you have Streetwise you might know she lives { { by begging. { { @OOCnote: I took over this character from another player { { a few weeks ago. Please be patient with me, and @mail { { me if you'd like to tell me how well you know Robin. { {{{{{{{{ Last disconnected: 5 July 1996 at 4:50 p.m. {{{{{{{{{{{{ +finger Theramond ---> {{ Theramond's Plan {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ { @gender: Male Race: Human Age: 44 {{Type: Player { { @Short Desc: 6'4" white hair hawk nose & brass plate armor { { @Position: High Constable of Wirn. Colira's proud but { { protective uncle. { { @Email: wiggler@mogen.sarris.hegel.psych.edu { { @Reputation: unbribable and very very wealthy widower { { @Rumors: Theramond has been seen lately at Yellow Rose... { { @OOCnote: Appearance Handsome X4!!! I play Theramond really { { seriously; he's a snob and a sadist. Anybody interested { { playing his sons Beramond (age 22) or Zarn (age 24)? :) { {{{{{{{{ ---------- currently connected ---------- {{{{{{{{{{{{ M. GM "Corp" Guardians of the Continuity GM and Wizard are two entirely different jobs. To be a Wizard usually requires knowledge of coding, and deals with the internal workings of the MOO (namely the lion's share of the things on this Outline!) GM's, on the other hand, are InfoStaff ("I'm the one to ask about Nobles!"), Game Masters (where they change their name temporarily to something like "Scarthon_GM" and have no IC presence, only OOC; Judges (arbitrating OOC disputes between players, and refereeing posed or coded combat), OOC Faction Coordinators, Newbie Helpers, Additional But Official Background/Source Material Generators, and more. --How should they be chosen, and who can revoke that authority? ((END OF PRIORITY 2 OUTLINE by Unicorn)) -------------------------- Message 41 on *Design (#259): Date: Mon Feb 12 09:06:46 1996 MST From: Tormac (#646) To: *Design (#259) Subject: PRIORITY 3 OUTLINE 3. Things We Might Want (The Wet Dream Department...) A. Coded combat Y/N? (Some places put this under `Necessary'. In every case where I've seen this done, either the place was a White Wolf MUSH that cloned code from an existing WW MUSH or-- nearly all the Wizzen got bored and left long before completion.) B. Player building Y/N? C. Coded skills or special abilities not already done? D. Timestops Y/N? Timestops are special enterable OOC objects and they are used to OOCly cordon off a fight. This prevents twenty paged players from jumping in, and other silliness. E. Toys (descers, IC decks of cards, etc.) F. Puppets (should be able to pass as characters, i.e. whisper, page, etc.; might be tagged by ending name with ^ for a human and ~ for a critter. go dark when owner disconnects; announce owner is there when they connect?) G. Free code collection / object parents museum H. Builder characters (quota of 10 rooms for leaders/organizations such as a hospital; 20 for regions) I. +LHELP (This is an AmberMUSH convention for recording the special info about alien worlds. It's short for Local Help, and it's also used for recording OOC things such as who to contact if you wish to build onto a location; what the staff will do in a restaurant if there's an altercation; documentation of commands specific to a room such as a Scrabble room; what the physical layout of the room is like, in better detail, etc.) J. Archives- ICly accessible maps; character fame/notoriety; world events K. Coded Character Generation, Edition 2 ((END OF PRIORITY 3 OUTLINE by Unicorn)) --------------------------