Subject: Suggest Birth System in Majik
From: Manuel Schuhmacher (schuhmacher.m@straubing.baynet.de)
Date: Thu Jan 04 2001 - 23:20:26 EET
I have read about the world of Majik. It shall implement many new, unique features.
I now suggest another idea that would make the world of Majik hopefully even more
exciting and lively. It is about a birth system.
<Why is it necessary ?>
Usually a new player abruptly appears in the world and has to invent a story
around his character. Often these stories are quite monotoneous and stale,
contradict each other and what has happened before. This makes the world very
inconsistent.
<How does it work ?>
You could solve this by making new characters be born. This means that newbies
are not cast into the world suddenly but instead introduced and woven slowly
into it. When they start to play, they start to live in the world of Majik,
and everything that happens to them, happens really in Majik. To slightly
imitate our world, the new players might be placed into the world by other
players, referred to as parents, considered first to be a child, later adult.
It might look like this: A new player arrives at the Majik website. He opens
a message board, where adult players shortly introduce themselves, tell, who
they are, where they live, which race and culture they belong to. The new
player chooses parents and answers their message. If they agree, parent
players can let the newbie enter the world. In order to do this all parents
should be adults and have to be logged in. They set a birth interface, telling
the system the login name of the new player. In game, while all parents stay
logged in, the new player now may login. He emerges in the world near the
parents, having the state child. Of course he can move, speak and do
everything an adult player can do, except procreate, yet he is weak and
unexperienced. Afterwards the player may login normally. When the parents
deem him mature, they may set an interface which changes his state to adult.
From then on he can give birth himself. In game all of this should be clad in
roleplay: The child is unfamiliar with the world around him. The parents
introduce him to the group they live in, teach him about the world, their
culture, and protect him. To become adult the player usually must pass a test
or a quest, determined by customs of his culture. From then on he will be
treated as an adult. The parents control the state of their child only to
prohibit bad, inconsistent roleplay by their child. They should also be able
to set an interface to let other players adopt the child, leaving control over
the state of the child to them. In order to do this it might be required that
the parents tell the name of the child and the names of the new parents and
the new parents also have to set that they want to take the child.
<What would have to be done ?>
The coders would have to implement a status of maturity, an interface for
giving birth, declaring adult and adopting, and adapt the newuser login.
The designers would have to touch terms of sexuality, familiy, childhood and
maturity in their descriptions of races, cultures and mythology.
What are the advantages ?
1. The world is more consistent: stories do not contradict each other,
previous events
2. The players are rooted in the world: based out of cultures, linked
to other players by family ties
3. The world and cultures are made more lively and colourful: Adults bind
themselves to one another, give birth to, raise, teach, look after
children, children get adult by passing tests or quests
4. The players are forced to roleplay within the context of Majik: only so
they get mature and become adult, otherwise are deemed mad, which may
be sanctioned by the group they live in
5. New players are protected as long as necessary
6. Cultures are steadier, because players are based deeper in them
[...]
What are the disadvantages ?
1. Starting to play is more constrained (but continuing not)
2. Starting requires parent players (but probably many players will offer to
be parents, as this makes their characters more lively, they like to
aid newbies, or their culture demands it)
3. Parent players might stop playing the game, though they have children not
yet mature (but other players can adopt their child)
4. Additional work creating the game
Now, how do you like this ?
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