Post by asana on Sept 1, 2018 6:00:22 GMT
Let's see, my choice is either there IS a money system, or there is no money system.
(a) If the money system stays, and if I want to make my character come from a wealthy family, I need to build a high social skill and log into this website regularly enough to tick the money increase from my $50/social "stipend." That means I need to spend my starting skill points one way.
(b) If the money system goes, skill points invested in social is a waste, because I need those points to invest in things that important to my character's RP activities.
For the moment, I'm not investing any points on my character sheet until I see what Suzie decides. My play times pretty much insures that I won't level-up without a significant expansion to how the game operates. With game systems still in flux, I dare not spend my points foolishly .
--------
Aside from my personal viewpoint above, from the standpoint of building a highly interactive RP world, I recommend that the system DOES have money. Money adds resource allocation to the game. Spending money is an allocation decision with adds to the gameplay. The gamemaster should always be interested in fun, enjoyable gameplay. Worrying about "realism" is secondary - there is always a way to rationalize any game design decision. Games that promote "realism" over gameplay are rarely enjoyable.
Unfortunately, the whole money system is almost invisible to all but those who read through a fairly large number of posts here. There is also a serious problem with affordability at the shop. A lot of potentially important things, including any decent weapon, cost well over the starting $100.00. The only way to make money is to invest level-up points in social, encourage other character-sheet players in the game to give you their money, and/or get lucky by attending an event and getting a loot drop. This means the only "reliable" money source is social. Therefore, just about everyone "should" be getting at least one social level, just so to provide continuing spending money. If people know that's part of the game system, great. It should be posted prominently, so people realize how important social can be. If it's sprung on people mid-game, it can mess up character advancement choices and RP activities they've invested in. I believe this is the real crux of the matter.
Suzie - Seriously, if the game system gets a significant change like this, and no respecs are allowed, you're going to get flak from a percentage of the old guard players. So far it's been fairly polite, as people search for exceptions to the system so they can earn money without investing future level-ups in social to support their current playing activities. From a game design standpoint, the proper answer is to allow respecs whenever a significant game system changes or is added. Yes, it's a pain from a technical standpoint, because I'm sure you didn't set up character sheets to support respecs. Nevertheless, this is your REAL choice. If investing the work in respecs is too hard, you'll have to abandon adding or changing ANYTHING that significantly affects character development decisions, or accept that a portion of your stalwart players drop out every time you make a design addition or change that could affect characters.
(a) If the money system stays, and if I want to make my character come from a wealthy family, I need to build a high social skill and log into this website regularly enough to tick the money increase from my $50/social "stipend." That means I need to spend my starting skill points one way.
(b) If the money system goes, skill points invested in social is a waste, because I need those points to invest in things that important to my character's RP activities.
For the moment, I'm not investing any points on my character sheet until I see what Suzie decides. My play times pretty much insures that I won't level-up without a significant expansion to how the game operates. With game systems still in flux, I dare not spend my points foolishly .
--------
Aside from my personal viewpoint above, from the standpoint of building a highly interactive RP world, I recommend that the system DOES have money. Money adds resource allocation to the game. Spending money is an allocation decision with adds to the gameplay. The gamemaster should always be interested in fun, enjoyable gameplay. Worrying about "realism" is secondary - there is always a way to rationalize any game design decision. Games that promote "realism" over gameplay are rarely enjoyable.
Unfortunately, the whole money system is almost invisible to all but those who read through a fairly large number of posts here. There is also a serious problem with affordability at the shop. A lot of potentially important things, including any decent weapon, cost well over the starting $100.00. The only way to make money is to invest level-up points in social, encourage other character-sheet players in the game to give you their money, and/or get lucky by attending an event and getting a loot drop. This means the only "reliable" money source is social. Therefore, just about everyone "should" be getting at least one social level, just so to provide continuing spending money. If people know that's part of the game system, great. It should be posted prominently, so people realize how important social can be. If it's sprung on people mid-game, it can mess up character advancement choices and RP activities they've invested in. I believe this is the real crux of the matter.
Suzie - Seriously, if the game system gets a significant change like this, and no respecs are allowed, you're going to get flak from a percentage of the old guard players. So far it's been fairly polite, as people search for exceptions to the system so they can earn money without investing future level-ups in social to support their current playing activities. From a game design standpoint, the proper answer is to allow respecs whenever a significant game system changes or is added. Yes, it's a pain from a technical standpoint, because I'm sure you didn't set up character sheets to support respecs. Nevertheless, this is your REAL choice. If investing the work in respecs is too hard, you'll have to abandon adding or changing ANYTHING that significantly affects character development decisions, or accept that a portion of your stalwart players drop out every time you make a design addition or change that could affect characters.