Member Discussions

I'll start with my question right off: Has anyone
encountered any unique combat systems? It appears as if
every mud uses the exact same round for round combat system,
meaning mob hits me once, I hit back once. When I say every
mud, I mean most of the diku variety, such as rom, diku,
circle, rot, merc, smaug. Obviously pk muds and LP muds are
a little different and don't apply to this discussion.

Has everyone run out of ideas? If you play on a diku mud
and choose warrior, it's a given that you're going to have
the option to learn double attack or triple attack. Round
for round combat. Every...single...mud. It's not that it's
necessarily bad to have double attack, it's just that every
mud does it and it becomes so very redundant. Materia
Magica, Alter Aeon, Nodeka, Aardwolf, Lensmoor, and many
many more all reuse just about all of the same warrior
skills. You don't pick these muds based on their combat
systems. Maybe players love familiar combat, but there's
got to be more.

Why not base combat based on time? While certainly not a
unique concept in gaming, it would be a unique concept in
mudding. Sword A could attack every 1.5 seconds and have
light damage while Sword B could attack every 3 seconds yet
have heavy damage. It's a technique employed in some
mmorpgs and it would be very interesting to see if it could
be applied to a mud.

Are there any unique combat systems out there?

Jodah wrote:
Why not base combat based on time? While certainly not a unique concept in gaming, it would be a unique concept in mudding. Sword A could attack every 1.5 seconds and have light damage while Sword B could attack every 3 seconds yet have heavy damage. It's a technique employed in some mmorpgs and it would be very interesting to see if it could be applied to a mud.

That's the approach I used in GodWars Deluxe back in the late 90s, although I used whole seconds instead of fractions - and even then, it was a common complaint that the steady stream of text proved spammier and harder to read than round-based blocks of text.

I know a few other muds have implemented the same sort of thing over the years, but most Diku players prefer the standard round-based approach.

Jodah wrote:
Are there any unique combat systems out there?

Yes, but the standard combat system is an integral part of DikuMUD. People who wish to create radically different combat systems don't usually add them to DikuMUDs - and when they've tried, it's fairly obvious that they've had to shoehorn it.

If you don't like the Diku combat system, your best bet is to stop playing Diku derivatives.

we base it off of time. shots per round from a gun or melee swings had by character.

if you have a 9 shot per round firing gun, your combat would be veryyy fast!!

Our combat system is a bit different. The "round time" of
each individual in combat is unique to that particular
individual within the combat. Round time is based on the
AGI stat, and so the higher your AGI, the faster your
personal combat round attacks come. A low enough AGI
character vs. a high enough AGI character can see the high
enough AGI character having two attack rounds vs. the low
AGI character.

It may also be important to note that we have no effective
stat caps, although there is a cap on how much AGI will add
to your round time (even though it is pretty high and most
characters don't reach it).

While every class (at one point or another) can learn second
attack, we've eliminated anything higher than that. For
determining how many hits in combat a character has, we've
approached it a few different ways. Weapons have what
amounts to a "speed" stat, and this is one big determining
factor. Daggers are the fastest weapons, and thus when
using a dagger, your highest chance for additional hits come
from that. Spears or Axes, I believe, are the slowest.
Damage is also reversely correlated to their speed, as well.
There are also various advantages and disadvantages to how
you equip your hands. If you dual wield, you have the
highest chances of strikes, but your accuracy and damage
suffer as a result. Gripping a weapon in both hands has the
lowest possible number of attack chances, but your damage is
the highest. Using a single weapon with no shield I believe
has a median chance of strikes and with the highest
accuracy, while a single weapon with a shield has the
highest defense bonus with good accuracy. There is also an
attack skill everyone starts the game with that will issue
an additional combat round of attacks.

There are numerous other combat skills, tactics, and
features that deviate from the standard stock things.
Pretty much every skill that was found in stock has been
rewritten as well.

Our magic system is also a pretty significant part of our
overall combat system too. Whereas on most Diku
derivatives, a "Mage" is like any other character, relying
mostly on their automated combat rounds with magic being
little more than supplemental attacks, Mages on End of Time
play almost entirely different from other classes. With us
having really no effective stat cap, a Mage has the freedom
to buck the system and rely mostly on automated combat, but
most choose to take advantage of the magic system. First
off, the actual mechanics of casting are very different.
The syntax is the same, "cast <spell> <target>", but rather
than the spell going off and the caster being hit with lag
time, the caster begins "tracing a spell pattern" and enters
into casting time. The amount of this casting time is
determined mostly by the spell being cast. Once the caster
enters into casting time, then any automated combat stops
from the caster stops, and they are completely defenseless
while concentrating on their spell (some skills and
conditions alter this, and most Mages prefer to cast from
behind another character). During casting, they may modify
their spell in numerous different ways, including
"brightening" the spell by pumping more mana into the spell
to make it higher level (and thus do more damage),
"compressing" the spell to make it fire quicker, "expanding"
the spell to make it take longer, "widening" it to encompass
more targets (enemy group, everyone in room, and the
capability for area and world wide widening, although it is
questionable whether players will end up being able to widen
that much), retargetting it, pausing it to cast another
spell first, cancelling it, and more. Other spells cast
during this casting time may also overlay one ontop of the
other, creating a new spell entirely... such as casting
fireball and tremor will combine to create the spell magma
splash.

There are other combat systems or skills that are unique to
us or at least uncommon among other Diku MUDs... Our
technique, or team attack, system allows players to try to
run any skill or spell through the "tech" command, and once
a player has began a tech, other group members may join in
on the attack by adding their own skills. There are
literally hundreds of combinations that work, going from 2
people attacks with capacity up to 10 person attacks. Limit
Breaks are fairly uncommon as well, being customized skills
that a person sets the name, command, messaging, and
"effect" from a list of dozens. The limit breaks work by
building up a meter, and when the meter is full, the skill
may be used, and the player also has several options to
choose from on what conditions makes their meter increase,
from taking damage, dealing damage, fighting in a group,
casting a spell, etc. Blitzes work in a different manner as
well, with the blitz command initiating a blitz skill, and a
lot of the damage coming from the timing of the blitz (which
is slightly randomized to help beat timer scripts). Other
combat commands that anyone can use include defend, where
automated combat stops and all defensive skills get a
massive boost... assault, where mana is pumped to increase
physical damage... tension, where a player is charging for
an attack and may time the release of their energy or allow
the game to do it automatically. There are more of these,
but that's off of the top of my head.

We've done away with traditional "lag time" for actions in
combat, rather there is a "wait time" that only limits other
combat specific attacks for however long the wait timer is
set for, such as after you bash, there may be 3 seconds in
which no other combat skills may be used, nor can potions be
used, equipment changes, etc. but things like equipment,
inventory, score, who, tell, etc. may be freely used.

In addition to every character (PC or NPC) having a primary
and secondary elemental alignment, every room also has an
"elemental field" which represents the strength of the mana
present in the room. There are 5 slots, and while some
areas are strongly biased for a particular element (the Fire
Cavern, for example, is flagged to be predominately red),
the 5 are otherwise randomized among the 6 colors of
elements. The more of a single color present in a room, the
stronger skills and spells sharing that element (or a skill
being used by someone of that elemental alignment) will be.
Using any elemental skill/spell will also "push" the
elemental field closer to that color, so using 5 red spells
in a row will "lock" the room at red, at which point all red
skills/spells/characters will see a significant boost in
damage. The lock lasts for a short duration, and after the
duration, the field may continue to be pushed as normal.

We are working on the basics for a group formation system as
well, where there will be either a list of predefined
formations that may be chosen with each "position" in the
group having a different benefit, or allow players to choose
within a grid what position they want, with each having its
own benefit. We are still working out the basics, but in
addition to team attacks and no exp penalty for grouping, we
are trying to place a high emphasis on cooperative play,
though by no means forcing it on anyone.

These are just some of what we've done with our combat
system. We hope to have it be as immersive or as casual as
someone wants, as most of what is listed isn't necessary to
be able to play correctly, but someone who wants immersive
combat and masters some of these techniques should find
themselves quite adept. We've also tried to find a balance
between a complete new and custom combat feel, and something
familiar. So while our combat offers plenty of new things
to experience, it doesn't completely abandon that Diku feel.

most Diku players prefer the standard round-based approach.

I can back that one up. People who prefer hands-on combat will generally choose a mage-type, since it requires direct input for the majority of their damage/utility. People in the middle might pick a thief since they require a little extra tact for the most damage output, and people with no imagination or inclination pick warriors since everything but bash is passive/automated.

That's just in a stock-ish type game, though.

The OP is wrong on too many levels to mention. First off, it ignores the fact that people have been doing interesting things with the Diku automated combat system for nearly two decades. It then proposes some "new" ideas about customizing combat, all of which interestingly enough have been part of our particular combat system (customized Diku-Circle) since at least 1995.

I'm sure dozens of other Diku-rivative admins who care enough to set the record straight will post ample evidence to debunk the OP. Here are some facts from my corner:

* Since the break of dawn, we've had weapon types, each of which has a natural attack speed. Certain classes can't master certain weapon types. (Diku makes it easy to implement weapon types as skills.)

* Since the break of dawn, weapon weight affects attack speed.

* Since the break of dawn, builders have been creating weapons whose damage dice corresponds to their weapon type, i. e. axes hit hard and slow, daggers weak and fast.

* Above and beyond damage multipliers and dual wield, we have skills and spells that temporarily boost attack or cast speed and spells that increase the chance of critical strikes.

* We have skills and spells that augment each other so that chaining them creates successful "combo" strategies on top of the automated regular attack layer.

* Strength affects both attack speed and amount of damage. A number of additional factors affect a player's ability to hit, some of which are intentionally kept secret.

In summary, the automated Diku combat system provides a very good canvas for developing complex combat that is still enjoyable. You don't have to stray very far from your home MUD to discover many games that have been taking advantage of that for many years. It takes a special kind of blindness and arrogance to ignore such tremendous amounts of reality and reach the conclusions the OP seems to have reached.

With diku, almost every aspect of the codebase serves the
combat system so any minor change can take a significant
amount of work and time, after implementation and debugging
has been complete.

From my experience most diku MUDs use the basic stock
combat, or change it to a "pulse" style combat as it's a
pretty simple hack to do. At the end of the day though its
still the same system, whether 1 character gets 2 attacks
per his opponents 1, OR, character 1 gets 2 attacks each
round to his opponents 1.

As KaVir said, you want non-diku combat, go non-diku.

It appears as if every mud uses the exact same round for round combat system, meaning mob hits me once, I hit back once.

...

Materia Magica, Alter Aeon, Nodeka, Aardwolf, Lensmoor, and many many more all reuse just about all of the same warrior skills.

Since you've singled us out here, I'd just like to point out that Alter Aeon in fact does not use a round-for-round system and never has. We use an attack speed system with some linear variation in the time it takes to land a blow.

New players start out with 20 attacks by default, and by training the single 'multiple attacks' skill can raise it to 32. Some warrior skills, such as berserk and revenge, and the haste spell, can temporarily raise attacks. The double attack skill as implemented on AA gives a 'chance for bonus attack on a secondary target', and is completely unrelated to attack speed.

Using an attack speed system allows us to have equipment that raises attacks, and weapons with higher or lower attack speed. Various curses, spells, and skills can be used to lower attacks. There are a lot of options to affect attack speed both on the offensive and defensive sides.

As pointed out elsewhere, many mudders find this kind of attack system spammy. We fixed that problem many years ago by ganging up prompts so that you can only get a prompt a maximum of once every several slices. This gives AA the appearance of a round based system and feels comfortable for most veteran mudders, but most quickly realize that it is in fact backwards from normal - the combat is continuous while the prompting is discrete.

-dentin

Alter Aeon MUD
http://www.alteraeon.com

Kavir wrote:
If you don't like the Diku combat system, your best bet is
to stop playing Diku derivatives.

Actually I have found one diku mud that uses a time based
system and it's pretty good. I think you can keep the core
diku standards and still innovate combat instead of being a
sheep.

Hades_kane wrote:
The "round time" of each individual in combat is unique to
that particular individual within the combat. Round time is
based on the AGI stat, and so the higher your AGI, the
faster your personal combat round attacks come.

That actually sounds great and very innovative. If it
works, my hat is off to you. I look forward to checking it
out.

plamzi wrote:
* Since the break of dawn, we've had weapon types, each of
which has a natural attack speed. Certain classes can't
master certain weapon types. (Diku makes it easy to
implement weapon types as skills.)

* Since the break of dawn, weapon weight affects attack
speed.

Are you talking about Bedlam or most diku games in general?
Because I can tell you this isn't the case. Most of them
just copy each other. Also you are talking about stock
features that require no innovation and are rather yawn
inducing. Knives being faster than swords is a big
generalization and not really a factor as swords get the
lame skills of "double attack" "triple attack". Of course I
wouldn't expect innovation from a mud like Bedlam that still
uses stock areas and stock mobs like beastly fidos.

Taoth wrote:
With diku, almost every aspect of the codebase serves the
combat system so any minor change can take a significant
amount of work and time,

Well I guess that explains why no one bothers to change it.

dentin wrote: Since
you've singled us out here, I'd just like to point out that
Alter Aeon in fact does not use a round-for-round system and
never has.

From your description it sounds like Alter Aeon doesn't
belong in that list, so my bad.

Jodah wrote:
Actually I have found one diku mud that uses a time based
system and it's pretty good. I think you can keep the core
diku standards and still innovate combat instead of being a
sheep.

Well I already gave you a link to a Diku derivative that includes speed-based combat as a stock feature - and having had a look over that code again, it seems I did actually use fractions (quarters of a second) after all.

It's a pretty simple change from an implementation perspective though. All you're really doing is speeding up combat rounds, then decrementing a counter on each fighter each round, and only executing their attack when it reaches 0.

If you've got 4 violence pulses per second, and each combat round was previously 3 seconds, then you could start out by setting the counter to 12, 6 or 4 for characters that previously had 1, 2 or 3 attacks per round respectively. That immediately gives you speed-based combat without changing the game balance. After that you can experiment with tweaking the speed based on other factors, and see what sort of impact it has.

But that's really not what I had in mind when talking about "radically different combat systems" that are difficult to add to Diku derivatives. Even when I added variable speed combat to GodWars Deluxe over a decade ago (effectively turning it into a stock feature), I considered it just a minor modification - it only got a 3-word mention in the 'changes' help file, in the same bullet point as 6 other combat-related changes.

Jodah wrote:

Knives being faster than swords is a big generalization and not really a factor as swords get the lame skills of "double attack" "triple attack". Of course I wouldn't expect innovation from a mud like Bedlam that still uses stock areas and stock mobs like beastly fidos.

While setting you straight is a complete waste of time, I do fear someone else might get confused by your ramblings. I'm not talking about multiplying rounds. I'm talking about a complex formula for calculating attack delays for each round of battle. It's a formula influenced by about 12 factors, the most important of which is the weapon weight and type, the person's skill with that weapon type, and current character strength. Most of this system was built in 1994-5 on top of Diku/Circle--I just added a secondary timer for dual attack and a chance for critical strikes. The bottom line is we've had the exact things you proposed for about 17 years now, which grinds your opening thesis to dust. And your further posts just expose it for the flamebait that it is. I see some admins of non-Diku-derivative MUD's played into your hands and chimed in but the bottom line is there is no shortage of originality in thousands of games derived from Diku--there's just your ignorance, real or feigned.

As for Bedlam's beastly fidos, they are a tribute to the makers of Diku and I will keep them for as long as I'm admin. Bedlam targets people who don't know what a MUD is, and is spearheading our entry into the mobile gamer market. So it's not part of the "most non-stock" beauty pageant. While we have countless custom features, and our world is over 80% custom, I won't spend a minute trying to hide stock aspects of the game in case some vets find them to be a turn-off. So yes, we have fidos, and we have rent. Stay away from Bedlam, Jodah.

KaVir wrote:

Well I already gave you a link to a Diku derivative that includes speed-based combat as a stock feature - and having had a look over that code again, it seems I did actually use fractions (quarters of a second) after all.

It's a pretty simple change from an implementation perspective though.

That sounds similar to the way our combat system was modified in the mid-90's. This should be enough to put the whole thread to rest, KaVir, except I fear the OP has high resistance to facts, and a non-working relationship with truth. He also has the gall to be teaching us coders how it is done.

Given the OP, I'm not sure anything can be done to rescue this thread, but we could start another one, asking people to showcase the interesting things they've done with combat over the years, regardless of codebase.

Kavir wrote:
But that's really not what I had in mind when talking about
"radically different combat systems" that are difficult to
add to Diku derivatives.

I'm curious what you had in mind then. It seems to me it
would be possible to gut and recode the combat system, maybe
time consuming. Since Godwars deluxe was a simple change,
what would be an example of a radically different combat
(other than Godwars 2) system for a diku mud?

plamzi wrote:
blah blah blah I'm super mad blah blah, coders are smarter
than God blah blah blah

That's funny because I know the layout and map of your stock
mud and I haven't even played it.

but we could start another
one, asking people to showcase the interesting things
they've done with combat over the years, regardless of
codebase.

I'd be all for that. Care to start it? I would be an
interesting read for sure.

Jodah
wrote:

Kavir wrote: But
that's really not what I had in mind when talking about
"radically different combat systems" that are difficult to
add to Diku derivatives.

I'm curious
what you had in mind then. It seems to me it would be
possible to gut and recode the combat system, maybe time
consuming. Since Godwars deluxe was a simple change, what
would be an example of a radically different combat (other
than Godwars 2) system for a diku mud?

It is of course possible to radically change a diku combat
system but in the same sense it is possible to change a
toaster into a dvd player, its just not practical
considering the initial design was so oriented in a
different direction.

Examples:
-Bard's Tale/Might and Magic style turn-based combat
-Heroes of M&M style grid based tactical combat
-Old School qBasic gorillas style combat utilizing angles
and velocity.
-Manual Round Based Combat that differs from God Wars 2

That's funny because I know the layout and map of your stock mud and I haven't even played it.

You think you know many things without having done them. It's the blazing mark of ignorance. Insults from ignorant people are wind in my sails.

One of the coders that worked extensively on my game and has
released numerous snippets of code that wasn't used on End
of Time (many of which are in use in some of the most
popular Final Fantasy MUDs) was working on a different Final
Fantasy based game and completely gutted the combat system
in favor of a completely turned based system, where when it
became your turn, you had a menu of available options pop
up, and based on what you chose, your character acted and
went back into waiting for his turn again. It worked pretty
well, but as many MUDers, I prefer the fast paced style of
automated Diku style combat.

While I've never played Godwars II, I have experienced some
manual style combat, some of which on Diku based games, and
overall didn't find that style of combat very appealing. I
actually have fun on automated combat systems, as the bulk
of the combat is taken care of, and it creates fun
opportunities for other interactive ways of directing the
battle. That's one reason we went the direction with combat
as we did... I wanted to maintain the feel but definitely
saw a lot of room for improvement.

But between the completely turn based system and some manual
based combat systems, I have seen some very uncommon systems
in Diku based games, but with any popular codebase, they are
usually well hidden among a sea of mostly stock games.

Jodah wrote:
I'm curious what you had in mind then. It seems to me it would be possible to gut and recode the combat system, maybe time consuming.

I didn't say it wasn't possible, just that people don't usually do it, because the combat system is an integral part of the mud. It's tied into stats, skills, spells, movement, equipment, character advancement, mob progs, etc, etc. A radically different combat system would require extensive changes throughout the mud, so most people going that route either shoehorn their changes into the Diku design, or go with a different codebase.

7th Plane uses time-based combat. It's a lot like that described by other posters in this thread. Your agility stat (and a few other things) determine how fast you attack. Different weapon types have different natural hit rates, depending on their subtypes and the user's skill levels with them. Heavier equipment encumbers your character, reducing your agility, thus slowing you down. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

It started out as the God Wars Deluxe combat code that KaVir referenced, but it has been gutted and revamped quite a few times over the past decade.

Then again, you've played it, Jodah. You played it for 80 hours according to the playing time field on the one character of yours I remember for sure is you (the obvious one - character name: Jodah). That's what perplexes me about all of your posts. You constantly post about how MUDs don't have X, when I know you've played MUDs that do have X - if on no other MUD than my own. If I weren't lazy, I could probably even track down old posts of yours where you lauded games (including mine) for having X, and proceeded to recommend them to other players.

Then, sometime earlier this year, you got bored. You were always one for snarky comments and anti-DBZ rhetoric; but, when you entered your phase of boredom, you seemingly tossed everything out the window - former knowledge of particular games, logic, reasoning, civility, tact, etc.

Regardless of whether you honestly think you're trying to enlighten the masses of MUD developers with this weekly series you've started, it is becoming increasingly difficult to take anything you post seriously. All of your recent posts seem to come from a very limited and outdated perspective. Either you haven't seriously played (note: logging on and idling/talking != playing) any MUDs since the late 90s, or you're playing all the wrong ones now.

From what I've seen, Jodah doesn't like MUDs anymore. All he does is bash them and attempt to make them look bad by talking about features they don't have or should have. All this trash talking about MUDs and he can't even code...

Seriously man, just give it up. You've made a worse name for yourself than I have over the years and it only took you a couple months.

And all you do is piss and whine about everything.

I'd rather you left and Jodah stayed, really.

And what do you do besides make rude comments on everything? If don't remember you ever posting anything decent or productive.

(Comment added by Darkozx on Tue Nov 1 20:26:16 2011)

Oh, you're stuck with me. I'm not leaving and I'm not quitting MUDs. So do yourself a favor and get used to me or put me on ignore.

Kavir wrote:
A radically different combat system would require extensive changes throughout the mud, so most people going that route either shoehorn their changes into the Diku design, or go with a different codebase.

Well I see your point now, and your comment "go play something besides diku" makes a little more sense. Thank you for explaining it.

lyanic wrote:
Then again, you've played it, Jodah. You played it for 80 hours according to the playing time field on the one character of yours I remember for sure is you (the obvious one - character name: Jodah).

I can assure you that wasn't me lol. I definitely haven't played for 80 hours. Idle maybe, but definitely not playing. I'd say 2 hours of play time total, which is why I haven't reviewed your mud. Honestly your mud looked promising but the lack of room descriptions wreaked of laziness. I especially like your explanation, "we planned our laziness that way because players are lazy" The first thing I chatted when I arrived was "is this mud finished?" And the response I got from an experienced player, "lol, I thought the same thing when I first started". Hmmm.

lyanic wrote:
Regardless of whether you honestly think you're trying to enlighten the masses of MUD developers with this weekly series you've started, it is becoming increasingly difficult to take anything you post seriously.

Hey I liven things up around here, give you something to read.

lyanic wrote:
If I weren't lazy, I could probably even track down old posts of yours

Ah, you're lazy. That would explain the lack of room descriptions.

lyanic wrote: it is becoming increasingly difficult to take anything you post seriously

Honestly I don't care if you take me seriously or not. I like discussing muds, so I'm going to do it.

DragonBallEvolutionSucks wrote:
All this trash talking about MUDs and he can't even code...

I didn't know knowledge of coding was a prerequisite for having ideas and giving critiques. I guess I better stop playing PC games since I don't know how to code them.

Wow such anger emanating from these forums.

Arantha's combat is primarily based on the 2nd edition D&D round system. There are no second- or third-attack skills; warrior classes can gain more melee attacks as they rise in level (though it takes a lot of work to get there) and fighters wielding their specialized weapon gain an additional off-round attack in conjunction with this. All other classes (that are not dual-wielding weapons) are limited to one attack per round.
What may be of interest to you is that certain actions are 'queued' to coincide with the combat round. If a wizard, for example, wishes to cast a magic missile at an enemy, he types the cast command and his spell will execute not immediately but during the combat round; spells and weapons both have a combat speed that combine with initiative roll to determine who goes first. If the wizard is struck early in the combat before the spell completion, his concentration can be interrupted and the spell lost, uncast. There is no endlessly regenerating mana or spell-spamming, Arantha uses a spell memorization system familiar to anyone who's played AD&D and spell slots are valuable, slow to refresh and often used sparingly.
It is hardly a unique system, but it was built out of a CircleMUD base and many parts of the combat experience are radically different from stock code.
From my personal experience, I've seen more than a few MUDs with close-to-stock combat and a couple with really unique ones. One of the coolest was a game where you 'entered' combat and everything was already figured about the battle. It would slowly spit out 'descriptions' of what would occur between the two combatants, and the player had the option to try and 'interrupt' what would be a predestined ending.. usually by running the hell away. Repetitious descriptions made the whole thing a little less exciting, and it took away the ability to really use emoting during combat.

I* don't remember you ever posting anything decent or productive.

I don't imagine you remember much of anything to start with, let alone where I'm concerned.

Jodah wrote:
I can assure you that wasn't me lol. I definitely haven't played for 80 hours. Idle maybe, but definitely not playing. I'd say 2 hours of play time total, which is why I haven't reviewed your mud.

I'm 100% positive it is you, and the time stated is accurate, whether it was due to idling or not (I even referenced the fact that you "idle" more than "play" in my original post).

Jodah wrote:
Honestly your mud looked promising but the lack of room descriptions wreaked of laziness. I especially like your explanation, "we planned our laziness that way because players are lazy" The first thing I chatted when I arrived was "is this mud finished?" And the response I got from an experienced player, "lol, I thought the same thing when I first started". Hmmm.

Now you're making misleading statements and poorly paraphrasing (perhaps intentionally). The game does have room descriptions - they're just limited to 1-3 lines. I told you that I used to write long, elaborate room descriptions, but players would just turn them off. When they do that, they die a lot (from missing the hints about dangers ahead), complain and rage quit. Whether that's laziness on the part of the players is up for debate, but I saw a problem and found a solution for it. Aren't you the one constantly advocating changes we need to make to get/keep players?

Even if the limited room descriptions started out for that reason, it has since become more thematic in nature. I get as many players who tell me they appreciate the brevity as those who quit because they wanted to read a novel for each description. I'm really trying to move away from the concept of "rooms" and to blur the lines more between graphics and text. I've always had a spatially accurate world. I've always colorized it. I've always had maps. With the new protocols and clients, I'm hoping to one day have a pseudo-graphical game that is playable via mouse. And as much as you have been pushing graphics and maps lately, I'm surprised you get so hung up on room descriptions.

I'm 100% positive it is you,
and the time stated is accurate, whether it was due to
idling or not

80 hours, lol. Take a look at my level, like level 4.
Definitely not 80 hours of playing time.

I told you that I used to
write long, elaborate room descriptions, but players would
just turn them off.

Players like to read the room description once and if they
frequent the room, they don't need to read it again, so they
turn it off. For you to make most of your mud that way is
such an excuse for laziness. Even if they do blow by the
rooms, players want something to read while they are
sleeping. A mud is not akin to "reading a book" if it
doesn't have room descriptions, and it definitely doesn't
bring the world to life. Having room descriptions only in
"important rooms" is such an insult to intelligence.

And as much as you have been
pushing graphics and maps lately, I'm surprised you get so
hung up on room descriptions.

Yes, you really need one or the other. Going without both
is a sure sign of crappiness. Having both is pure awesome.