Well, unfortunately, nothing is foolproof. If someone wants to cheat, they\'re going to. There\'s nothing you can do about it. If people have two computers and they want to \"play with themselves\" (I don\'t care how dirty that sounds) then let them - at least they\'ll leave other folks alone.
Other than the fact that some players get unfair advantages over the other, I agree. Of course, solving the problem might be difficult, and I don\'t have any bright ideas to do so. By the way, I believe Gronomaster meant two different people apprenticing the other player.
As for charging extortionate prices for a skill - well I assure you they\'d only do it once. It takes about 15 minutes to ruin your reputation ingame - and more often than not once it\'s done, it\'s impossible to repair. If someone asks a ridiculous price, they\'re not going to get it. That just stands to reason.
True. However, people forget about the greedy master after a nights worth of sleep, unless there is a pest list ingame. Even then, the person seeking apprenticeship may be telling the truth while others may not trust him/her. Without valid evidence.
The pricing issue is why I leaned toward having someone perform a quest before being taken on as an apprentice first, before charging - hence, they know that the initiate is serious, and the initiate can get an idea of the roleplayer\'s style before they start. Granted, there\'s unscrupulous players out there, but there isn\'t much anyone can do about that, really, other than keep an eye out and not work with them.
Interesting idea. Perhaps how the player does the quest and how quickly it\'s done can contribute to how the Master thinks of the hopeful apprentice.
Crafting also shouldn\'t be easy, and achieving master shouldn\'t be something a powergamer can do. Taking an item apart after constructing it should be impossible - I\'ve actually never seen a game where anyone could just take apart a crafted item, so no worries there.
First sentence is agreed upon. The rest of the sentence will be replied to in the next sentence. Planeshift, I believe, will be a game unlike others. Why not have the ability to take apart items, if you have no use for them. I mean, perhaps arrows can be reffitted with different shafts, feathers, and so on instead of being entirely replaced. I\'d rather upgrade than replace. That\'s just me, though.
Competition for crafters is important - the economy is a bit of a game, and it requires people to really keep an eye on things if they want to be able to make a living. Charge too high, and you price yourself out of the market. Price too low, and you run the risk of someone buying your wares and then selling higher for a profit - this has happened in other games. I note some games offer the ability to add a \"trademark\" to crafted items (apprentices would probably operate under their master\'s mark until journeyman level). But it shouldn\'t be so competitive that people don\'t try to just stab each other in the back, but actually trade with each other and assist in the discovery of new \"apprentice level\" recipes - this would aid the majority of masters in teaching their students as well as help people actually achieve master status.
Interesting idea! I have a sudden inspiration for this as well that will fit neatly into the idea of Merchant\'s Guilds. There can be guilds for crafting and raw resources, and guild leaders operate such guilds to create advantages for guild members. What I\'m trying to say is basically guilds for crafting or sections in guilds to do so.
I thought a \"review\" system may work well, but there\'s always going to be badmouthers who would abuse this. In the end, it just comes down to maturity and the common sense of both player and teacher.
The only problem I see with this is that badmouthers may abuse it entirely and the review system will go in shambles. Something like 100 bad reviews and 1 good one. Nobody is going to read through each one just to see which one is good. A solution would be to have each player promise that they will not abuse anything under threat of still being able to play, but losing every item. Torture, while extremely cruel, is worth than death, so if another person comes up with an idea, it should replace the one suggested by me.
edit: Will try to get into Seeking Fortune, but sort of rp-burnt at the moment, I\'ve got a lot of irons in the fire with other projects
Well, roleplaying is entertainment, and entertainment comes last. Good luck on your other projects, though.
By the way, what is this \'Another-Game-That-Is-Not-to-Be-Named,\' anyway?
