Re: A fresh look at Olympia
Sat, 25 Jul 92 0:41:37 EDT

OK, my turn to blather on and on about what I want for Olympia (note:
I don't mean to sound rude, but I do. cope) Anything said in this message
is just ideas, opinions, and not to be thought of as essential. OK, it's
a wish list.

To me, Olympia is a game of building. Building yourself and your faction
to a level not realistically possible in todays society, at least, not very
easily (if it were easy, we'd all be president). The problem is, how to do
it so that no one person can take advantage of one facet of the game to get
around the rest of the players. And once that player does that, how to
prevent other players from doing the same. The problem is, it begins to get
very complex. How to restrict players in a realistic manner from hozing
every other player. (on a side note, I think Rich is doing the best he can,
given this complext task). When I started Olympia, back in turn 0 (as I call
it), I said, "oh boy, look at this! a city, with people. about 30 players,
and 5 exits, and just about nothing else." (the City was Drassa, of course).
As new players were brought in, they arrived in Drassa. I built up a few
units, had them entertain for money, and just about had a grand old time,
missing out on exploration. All of a sudden, I determined that, yes, indeed,
those exits DO go somewhere. Why don't I explore? So I did. Now, I have
the honour of being the person who has explore the 2nd most of the world.
But I have no money methods. So, I have to sit down and figure out how to
make money again.

I LIKE THIS. HOWEVER: (there's always a 'but' in there somewhere) it is
beginning to get a little boring. Yeah, I could quickly make somewhere in
the area of 20K gold in one sequence of moves and gives and sells, but my
units need a GOAL.

Scott Hauck's idea of making Olympia more like Ultima is an interesting
idea. I wouldn't play in it. Why? Because, while it is somewhat realistic,
it lacks a certain feel to it. It's the same style game, with a different
feel. Less information is learned by the single player, because he has no
communication with his own units. As I see it, people will just take over
the one province they start in, and THEN worry about other provinces. That
could take more than 30 turns, if there are more people in that province who
have the same idea. (or it could take 2 turns, but it COULD take more).
That's not the feel I have for Olympia. It doesn't have the scale of Olympia.
In theory, if I could write orders worth a damn, in our current system, I
could quite easily be emporer within, say, 30 turns. That's a long time,
but it's not THAT long game time. 30 turns, at 8 turns a game year is less
than 4 years. (that's an optomistic guess, actually) During that time, I
would be a serious target, however.

Well, I ramble. My point, I guess, is that I like Olympia the way it is,
with full reports, full communication between players, etcetera. I like
having no outer tasks to defeat (such as trolls etc..) because this is a game
where player interaction is key. I don't like point systems where you get
to be a god when you die if you have enough points. That's LPMUD only PBEM.
Here, either you do it right, or you die. And I'm mighty close to dying,
too, coz I'm not writing orders right.


Main Index  |  Olympia  |  Arena  |  PBM FAQ  |  Links