Preventing players from repeating quests (Was: Re: CF: Alternate proposal: MARK the power crystals)

[Hwei Sheng TEOH <>]

On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Raphael Quinet wrote:

[snip]
> These two ideas can be combined into one: use an invisible marker in
> the player's inventory to grant the access to another quest and at the
> same time deny them the access to that quest.  This can be done by an
> extension of the MARKER and DETECTOR objects that Peter Mardahl has
> recently added.
>
> A map designer could use the detector at the entrance of a quest, and
> close the entrance gate if the player is carrying the corresponding
> mark.  So while you are doing the quest, you can freely enter and
> leave.  But as soon as you have found the treasure, you automatically
> get the mark (there can be a marker at the entrance of the treasure
> room) and you can only leave the quest but not come back later.  Of
> course, a wise map designer would also put another detector that would
> trigger a magic mouth warning the player that he will not be able to
> come back if he leaves.
[snip]

How far should we push this in the maps, though? I'm referring to single-map
quests, like the houses in Scorn. Should we make it so that after you've
completed the map you'll never be able to go in there again? How about
multi-player situations, where some in a party has been through the map, but
others haven't? How would we enforce this rule for them (and should we bother
to enforce it in this case)?

Personally, I like the idea that once you finish a quest, you won't be able to
go back and re-play the quest. However, I also think that it should OK for my
character to visit a place where monsters will always be replenished (like a
Troll island or something), just for the fun of bashing some monsters. Such
maps, of course, shouldn't have any significant rewards (just the regular
randomly-generated stuff). Any map with significant rewards should probably be
playable only once.


T

-
[you can put yourself on the announcement list only or unsubscribe altogether
by sending an email stating your wishes to ]