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« on: September 13, 2011, 12:24:14 pm »
It seems to me, this game has a few different aspects to consider when thinking about its overall design and purpose. And all of us players are fortunate enough right now to not only have a lot of interest in coming up with great ideas, but also have a number of coders willing to work on it.
So far, as I see it
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1. Newbies- Goal : Get them the help they need when they need it, and create a game that will allow them to advance quickly as to encourage their returning and becoming part of the 4D family, so to speak.
a. -There is talk of creating a toggle of some sort to allow older players/helpers to see when a newbie signs on.
b. -Suggestions have been made to create a list of easy leveling zones, good eq that is easy to get and where to find it, etc
c. -Updating the hint channel so that newbies get the information they need efficiently.
2. Oldbies- Goal: Keep the game interesting for those who have maxed out their character and have done the quests the want to do
a. Challenge system: Xeriuth and others are talking about creating a challenge system that would be mostly for the oldbies who have seen and experienced just about everything else.
b. -Revamping artifacts: By creating artifacts that re useful and interesting to olbies, Oldbies would be encouraged to continue roaming the realms and play the game. This is good for newbies because this provides the oldbies with continuing education about the set up of the Realms and the different quests, especially since things change from time to time. They can impart their knowledge onto the newbies as appropriate.
3. In-betweenies- Goal: Have a mud that provides the players with control over what happens to their character as it fits within the theme of time travel, so they can enjoy all that the Realms have to offer regardless of their specific interests
a. -The game already provides interesting zones and quests. Builders are constantly creating new zones and building upon the ones already created. We have a very unique mud that, imo, is the most fun to play out of all the other muds.
b. - Along with other ideas given by other players, Jaros has come up with an idea to allow players to switch around their eq slots and create a whole new Cyborg race. This can be as complicated or as simple as each player would like it. It give the player more control over what s/he wants for her character and, as Molly points out, fits within the theme of time travel.
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This is the way I see it now. There have been so many great ideas lately. I like how this mud provides a little something for each kind of player. We have a lot of different players, coders, builders and imms to thank for the success of our mud! And because of the teamwork, our mud seems to have a close-knit-community feel to it. I think as long as we keep this structure in mind, this is bound to create an atmosphere where newbies feel welcomed and encouraged to come back, oldbies hold interest in the game and enjoy helping newbies, and those in between find the adventures they are looking for.