I’m alive! With an episode! It’s the apocalypse!

But, in all seriousness, hey everyone. New episode, where I rant about why I don’t like hunger in MUDs. Agree, disagree, hate my face? Lemme know!

1) What is hunger?

a. Mechanic in MUDs usually implemented as a timer.

1. Be logged in for X hours, hunger goes down until it starts to negatively effect you.

2. Ignoring usually leads to death.

3. Hunger in most muds is really, really, realllllllllllllllllly stupid.

b. The other end is something that doesn’t exist whatsoever.

1. A few hybrids exist, such as games where you stop having to eat past a certain level.

2. Others have items that remove the need for eating/drinking.

2) Why I hate hunger

a. It tends to add very little to the game. You’re in the middle of killing/roleplaying/whatever, and suddenly gotta duck out to stuff a whole turkey down your gullet to continue playing.

1. Reminds me of quarters in arcade games.

b. Finding food can prove challenging if you’re a new player, and don’t know your way around the game.

c. It’s a nag mechanic. There tends to be no reward and steep penalties for ignoring it.

3) Why have hunger

a. Creates a more “realistic” environment for players

b. That’s all I can really think of. Seriously.

4) But Tark, what can we do instead of killing players that don’t eat and/or drink food?

a. Having dabbled a bit in Elder Scrolls Online, steal their system.

1. Food buffs stats. In ESO, food/drink increase vitals or vitals regeneration (hp, mana, stamina)

2. Though they don’t allow stacking them, allow players to stack food and drink buffs.

a. Food buffs the maximum of a stat, drink buffs the regeneration rate.

b. Have the hunger system give minor buffs

1. Can effect things like increased damage/hit rate, better learning rates, increased exp

2. No penalty for not eating. If a player doesn’t care about having the small perks that maintaining food/thirst provides, then that’s their decision.

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