I, to blow my own trumpet a little, have been in RPGs for over 15 years now,
semi professionally. Over the last 8 years I have been working for a
company called the Lorien Trust, helping to stage international and
national LRP (live action RP) for thousands of players on a regular basis.
I have written for Dragon and TSR as well as FASA.
What I am here to say is that MUDs and very specifically, Avalon, are
VERY different to 'mainstream' RPG (if there is such a thing, it's all
a bit fringe, really.)
The Main difference lies in the etiquette. No one in LRP would even
consider playing so close to the edge of reality as we do here in Avalon.
The distinction between IC (in character) and OOC (Out of Character) is
much stronger in LRP and even stronger again in Tabletop (AD&D etc.)
It is VERY obvious when someone is playing a character and when they are
not. In a MUD this isn't always so. I have come across situations that I
thought were OOC and turned out to be tottally IC, and vice versa, witness
my unfortunate fracas with Nightfallen. I was acting IC, he saw it as an
OOC insult (and partially rightly.)
Combat, per se, is also very different from your average RPG combat. In
most RPGs Death is Death...you MIGHT get ressurected if you're lucky, but
the chances are you're dead forever. Here in Avalon there is no risk of
such, so combat is more frequent and the ABs for combat are quite deadly.
Avalon, IMHO, is a very combat oriented MUD, but it is certainly far better
than many others that don't allow PK at all. PK should certainly be part of
the experience, but so should Pacifism. This flexability provides us with
the opportunity to play different roles, limiting to just PK or Non PK
limits the options available. At one time, I would have said that Avalon was
centered around combat, and little else. I am pleased to say I am wrong
for now that I have grown a litle, I can see that it's largely based on
politics and intrigue between the cities, an area where the Pacifist can certainly
be of vast use and ability.
On the killing side, there has to be a risk, a challenge, otherwise the rewards
are hollow and the plot non existent. Without Conflict, there is no plot.
you can't write the perfect RPG, this is why there are so many different one,
in LARP, RPGs and MUDs there are myriad worlds and situations waiting to be played.
The reason for this is that people enjoy different things. We'd be boring if
we didn't.
On a closing note, someone once asked me why I played MUDs when I had all of
these RPGs and LRPs to play and deal with. I told him I played MUDs because
there no one could argue with the referee. If it happened, it happened and
thats that. In other RPGs that often is not the case...
Arikarr, the somewhat longwinded but not apologetic.
yes
quit
Written by my hand on the 28th of Mournsend, in the year 976.