Posted by Proud Blade(VIP) on August 20, 2000 at 18:19:14:
(This is related to my previous post on ranking, and my desire to see an XP system that rewards players for doing more than just killing mobs.) (I'm also fairly certain something like this exists for restoring corrupted pfiles and such, but it is rarely or never used for what I intend it for.) It's like the role command.... simple, yet leads to many possibilities: The command: (available at level 52+) Example: xpbonus RagerWhelp 1000 Convinced WarriorB to destroy WarriorB's potions via a stirring speech on courage. What it would do: The idea would be that whenever an IMM observes someone (any player, although they would watch their own followers and cabal members more closely, as they do now) doing something exceptional, that can zap 'em a few XP as a quick reward. The player might not even notice, unless they advanced a level out of nowhere, or just type "worth" a whole lot. Typical things that might convince an IMM to xpbonus someone would be the completion of an IMM-run quest, noteworthy courage against overwhelming odds, or just a spectacular display of roleplaying. I would imagine a "typical" reward size of around 1000 xp. It's nothing to write home about, but it isn't chump change either. More or less exceptional events could earn more or less XP. Guidelines would be given in some IMM-only helpfile, so things are as consistent as possible. The "quest form" rule would also be invoked- asking (indirectly or directly) for an xpbonus should be a sure way of not getting one. Pros: 2) Characters could earn experience for almost anything, instead of just beating on hapless mobs. This is especially nice for those roles which are inconsistent with beating on hordes of hapless mobs. 3) It's flexible. The reward can be as big or small as called for, although a cap based on the IMM's level could be a good way to discourage people from getting overzealous. 4) Easily policed. A small number of (high-ranking) IMMs could have the job of thumbing through the master file every so often, looking for overzealous IMMs, or IMMs who seem to favor certain people/sites. An automatic IMM-only echo each time the command is invoked is another nice check. Cons: 2) Largely useless for rewarding heroes. 3) It's biased towards characters who frequently interact with IMMs, including empowered and other religious folk. 4) It requires active supervision, which means more crap for the IMMs to do. This also means that certain worthy events will slip through the cracks just because no one was watching. 5) Different IMMs might be "easier" or "harder" to gain rewards from. Guidelines would have to be well-planned and rarely deviated from. Thoughts? Comments?
xpbonus [player] [amount] [comment]
Add [amount] to the XP total of [player], for a reason briefly summarized in [comment]. Simultaneously, an entry is made in a common logfile on the main CF computer recording the exact command entered, who entered it, the IP of [player], and a time/date stamp. Pfile annotation on [player] would be very common, if not mandated, after each execution of this command.
1) Experience points are a great way to reward a non-hero character. Who wouldn't want experience points? Every race, cabal, and class can use that.
1) Corruption. Any such subjective system could be abused by a sufficiently malevolent or biased IMM. Corruption would have to be fought with checks and balances, such as the logfile described above, with multiple ways to catch abuse as soon as it happens. Eventually, this can become an issue of "Who watches the watchman?", but I think it is safe to say that if every IMM was interested is promoting unfair use of this command, the MUD would be broken beyond repair anyway. Then again, I've been told my head is in the sand on this issue.