2. How about no DI at all?
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This article is from the netrek Frequently Offered Clever Suggestions list, by Tom Holub doosh@best.com with numerous contributions by others.
2. How about no DI at all?
Problem: DI is a mistake. It is the reason for scumming.
Proposal: Toss it. At least toss all the ranks above Captain.
Why not: Many people like to advance in rank. DI was developed because
the original Xtrek had nothing but win/loss stats, so ratio scumming
was the only way to look impressive (you think DI is
bad... heh). There are a large number of Admirals who like having
their rank (hey, it took them a long time to get there), and some of
them run servers. DI is like the USA's electoral voting system: it's
not great, and the country might be better without it, but it's not
going away without a major fight.
Besides which, it's a good way to attract [scum] players to new
servers.
Any change to DI is simply going to shift scumming one way or the
other. Most arcade games are centered around the accumulation of
points; the object is to do certain things, for which you
rewarded. The idea of Netrek, however, is to win the game; rank should
be just an incidental feature. However, there will always be those who
see the accumulation of points, rank, or whatever as the driving goal.
The Holy Grail of DI changing is a system that rewards only non-scum
activities. However, telling scumming from teamwork requires human
intervention or artificial intelligence in most cases.
Jean-Marc Tanzi writes:
>I believe that any team game, like netrek, where a machine could
>>really compute how well you play cannot be that good.
Other interesting ideas:
* Have players promote each other. Once you get to a certain rank,
you can promote those beneath you. This has a chicken & egg problem
which can be solved by importing a database or with some active
administration at first. Note this is open to abuses (demoting
people you don't like, promoting really lame players to embarass
them, etc), and tends to trivialize rank. Tried on
b62150.student.cwru.edu, never widely accepted.
* Shift planet credit so that you get partial credit for making it
neutral and partial credit for taking it. This is accomplished by
(for example) multiplying everybody's planet rating by 3 and then
awarding 1 for neuting and 2 for taking. Since the global average
is also multiplied by 3, player ratings don't change, so DI is
constant. Tried on bigbang.astro.indiana.edu (now lexus). Doesn't
seem to significantly change the game.
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