[crossfire] Buildable Land Plots

[Alex Schultz]

Mark Wedel wrote:

>
     
       Well, I'd be in the camp that I want to buy my house prebuilt - I 
     
     >
     
      don't want to have to fiddle with putting walls down, doors, etc.  But 
     
     >
     
      having a spot as a starting point could be nice.
     
     >
     
     
     >
     
       OTOH, I suppose the counter to that could why not just the scorn 
     
     >
     
      apartments or whatever.
     
     
Whereas I would personally want to build it completely from scratch. 
IMHO it would be best to make both options available, with pros and cons 
to each, and I think that the main difference is the prebuilt ones could 
cost more to account for the materials cost.
Even the blueprints ones do have uses other than the apartments do 
though, because one can invite others into it.
Really, my counter is that IMHO building from scratch more fun, but 
really that's a rather personal thing. I have absolutely no problem with 
blueprints, so long as building from scratch is still available, and the 
pros and cons of each are properly balanced.

>
     
       At some level, also have to decide how far this goes.  IMO, at its 
     
     >
     
      heart, crossfire is an adventure type game, not a sim.  The issue 
     
     >
     
      being that we probably can't be as good as a sim as a game dedicated 
     
     >
     
      for that purpose.  I'd suggest getting the basics done first and worry 
     
     >
     
      about some of the likely less used things later (subcontracting 
     
     >
     
      buildings) 
     
     
Indeed, which is why I'm personally starting step by step, starting with 
just working on the 'template maps' I've outlined in this thread. In 
terms of an adventure vs. sim, I feel that buildable plots in some form 
would enhance crossfire as a MORPG, because:
1) It increases player interaction by giving customizable maps that one 
can invite others into without having to bother with guilds and their 
storage rooms and such. IMO increased player interaction is something 
crossfire is in need of.
2) It plain gives players more to customize, which is a positive thing 
when it neither unbalances the game nor changes the genre

In terms of things like contracting, I think that should be left to 
evolve from the social dynamics of the game, and therefore, if the 
players want it, they can get it, and if the players don't find it 
important then it won't float around without necessity.

Really, a significant amount of the people who prefer MUDs to crossfire 
prefer the MUDs because of customizability elements such as this.

Alex Schultz