TMC Player Reviews: Discworld

Review Submitted By: Hedged
Author Status: Player and staff member
Started on Discworld: 1998
Submission Date: Jan 22, 2007
TMC Listing: Discworld

The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Hedged] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.

Discworld from a players point of view.

Players ususally come in three variations; Number-chasers,
Roleplayers and a mix of both. Discworld does a good job of providing
for all types... I should know, I'm all types :P

In the 8 years of playing Discworld I have never lost the desire
advance my character in one of the many different aspects that the
place offers... skills available... quests to find... places to
visit... secrets to uncover... items... clothes... brews.. animals..
social intrigue.. politics. The place can be as complex as you like
it to be. And the sociology has been nothing short of remarkable,
until recently.

Discworld had in the past been very successful at balancing the sense
of 'unlimited character development' with 'providing a constant
challenge' to the player. Over the past couple of years this balance
has slowly been tipping.

These days the balance is in a shambles as the developers seem to
have gone overboard with their development. (Who could have believed
such a thing was possible). There seem to be so many features
available now to everyone, that Guild identities have been all but
erased.

A character of any profession may cast almost any magic spell, go
anywhere at a whim. Almost anyone can perform any Godly ritual and
multi-playing rules have been all but lifted, creating an environment
where anyone can be a self-sufficient demi-god and as is the case in
such situations. More and more people are becoming self-sufficient
demi-gods which in turn has a negative affect on the social aspects of
the game.

There are no challanges anymore because there aren't enough
restrictions. There are no Geographical restrictions. There are very
few skill restrictions. Even multi-playing restrictions have now been
removed. There isn't really any need to create new characters
anymore, one character can do it all.

On the other hand, the Disc is a lot bigger now spanning over 10
million rooms and filled with thousands of unique npc's. It's just
unfortunate that it's so hard to play the different aspects of the
game, and socialize at the same time. These days you have to go out of
your way to do so...it didn't used to be like that.