Review Submitted By: Gawain
Author Status: Player
Started on Project Bob: December 15th, 2006
Submission Date: Dec 31, 2006
TMC Listing: Project Bob
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Gawain]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I joined ProjectBob a few days ago because of excellent
Mudconnector reviews by Gryzz, Ariana, and Jarred.
They tell the truth, so I hope you will read them.
I'm adding my own first impressions as a newbie Bober.
PB breaks a lot of rules and conventions. For instance,
there is the rule that players must die, and their deaths
must be severe punishments. Although there is death on
PB, it's not inflicted as though the game gloats about
tricking the player. You die, pick yourself up, and
return to the fray without having to dig yourself out
of an xp hole.
Another instance is the 'perk' system,
which replaces long periods of bored wandering between
levels by regular reinforcement in the form of perk
points that can be used to enhance your character.
If you decide later that the enhancement isn't quite
right, you can undo perks and unlearn practices,
tinkering with new ideas. Points can be used to learn
'tech' attacks between the normal cycles of
player-versus-mob combat, giving the player a heightened
sense of control.
There is code for player-versus-player
combat (which I haven't tried yet), but PB isn't built
around encouraging bloodlust between players. There is
also code for roleplaying. I've only tried it once,
taking a thoroughly pleasant tour of another player's home
as we elevated our speech to match the medieval
theme -- an enjoyable conversation for which we each earned
rp points. You can buy homes as this player had done, though
I'm still saving up gold for my own purchase.
There are clans that foster a degree of intra-clan solidarity
and inter-clan competition, but PB doesn't encourage social
powerlust, as far as I can tell. It's a remarkably friendly
and welcoming community. The forums complement the MUD itself.
For instance, Ariana sent out a call for socials, and my
suggestion (see below) was accepted and implemented overnight;
I've been using it excessively ever since.
As Jarred mentioned, Matrim is the sole owner/coder. He's
passionate about communicating with players as well as getting
the code right. His news items give you a sense of participating
in an organically evolving world, and the 'lessons' keep you
from getting lost. All of this in articulate English! He has
decided to make the gameplay transparent. The player sees
how the code is operating in the world. You will have to
play the game to appreciate this, but for example you see
room numbers, and during combat you see points being deducted
from xp. Yet another rule broken.
PB is not the place for people who are looking for a
simulation of real-world anger and domination, but it may be
for you if you enjoy tinkering with a friendly, stylish,
complex and player-malleable environment.
wOrd.
