Medievia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Medievia is an online fantasy-themed text-based game, often referred to as a MUD. The game was initially created by Michael Krause and his development staff in the early 1990s, using the Merc 1.00 MUD engine. The relationship between Merc MUD codebase and Medievia's code is the subject of some controversy.
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[edit] In-Game Environment
The world of Medievia is a fantasy-based game with similarities to RPGs involving Orcs, Elves, Dragons and such (i.e.: Dungeons and Dragons type content). Whether Medievia can truly be considered a true role-playing game is debatable, as people do not generally act out roles or speak in a medieval fashion although the game makes numerous relative references.
[edit] Game Size
Medievia's game world size is approximately 4,140,751 rooms, as of March 24, 2007. Most of these rooms are built off a template and considered wilderness rooms. Among these wilderness rooms are zones in which players can fight Monsters (referred to as MOBs or Mobiles in-game) for Experience and Equipment. Medievia contains approximately 463 zones. Zones and the wilderness may have PvP areas; these are described below in the zones section.
[edit] Classes
Medievia contains the original four DikuMUD classes. Each class has its own specific strengths and weaknesses. There has always been a controversy over the equality between these classes and are constantly subject to tweaks over time. The Warrior and the Thief are archetypal fighters, while the Cleric and the Mage are the spellcasters.
- Warrior - The Warrior class is marked by its high hit points and low mana statistics. The Warrior class has the ability to deal more melee strikes than Thieves. Warriors are also able to wield weapons with higher damage dice.
- Thief - Thieves have less base hit points than Warriors in exchange for more mana. Though the Thief class can strike less melee hits in a round than Warriors, they make up for this in their ability to deal more damage via backstabs.
- Cleric - Clerics have slightly less hit points than Thieves, but more than Mages. They have more mana than Thieves, but less than Mages. While the Clerics spells deal less overall damage than Mage spells, Clerics have invaluable spells that allow them to heal themselves and take less overall damage via casting its Sanctuary spell.
- Mage - Mages have the least hit points and the most mana of all the classes. The Mage has the most damaging offensive spells and also the ability to substitute mana for hit points via its Mana Shield spell.
[edit] Multi-Classing and Reclassing
Players start out at level 1 as one of the classes described above. By fulfilling all of the requirements for each level, players gain levels until they reach level 31. The most basic type of level requirement is experience; additional requirements include leading points, autoquest points, trading points, egg points, and dragon points. The requirements increase with increasing levels, making the higher levels harder to achieve. Upon reaching level 31, the player has the option to multi-class, in which case the player starts out again at level 1 as a different class, retaining the abilities from the previous class. This process is repeated until the player has completed all four classes and has successfully completed a total of 124 levels. At this point, the player commands the skills and spells of every class and the disadvantages of only the current class - these players are referred to as heroes. Regardless of the order in which a hero completed the classes, as a hero, the player has the option to reclass. Reclassing is similar to multi-classing in that the hero chooses a different class and must reach level 31 to become a hero again. The level from which they must rehero varies depending on certain factors related to reclassing. At the extreme ends of reclassing, players will either start at level 1, or level 30. Heroes also have the option of enhancing their bloodline.
[edit] Equipment
Equipment is a special type of item that players can wear in order to increase different statistics or otherwise gain an advantage. It is one of the driving aspects of the game as the majority of players want to have the 'best' equipment. Useful equipment is obtained by killing a mob who has the desired equipment and taking it from them. Most equipment in the game has a limited lifespan. When its lifespan ends, the equipment's statistics deteriorate to what is called its 'base stats,' at which point it remains in the game under this condition indefinitely. Not all items deteriorate to their base stats. Items may contain flags that alter the outcome of its deterioration. In some cases, items may disappear all together. In other cases, items may deteriorate to half of their base stats. Players are able to determine the outcome of this deterioration via identifying equipment. There is also the possibility of extending the life on an object via the use of eggs. Items may be egged for a limited number of times, at which point the option to unegg the item is possible. Some items may not be egged, unegged, or both.
- Object Tweaking - Tweaking is claimed to be an integral part of what makes the game interesting. Tweaking refers to the scrambling code that is applied to an item's statistics that randomly adjusts the stats of the piece of equipment. Every tweakable item starts with base stats and is subject to a random roll on its different attributes. There are limits as to how high or how low an item will tweak, however, every object is unique in its own way and is subject to a possible 'freak tweak.' In this, stats can potentially roll very high or extremely low. Each time an item is loaded into the game, the code randomly assigns its stats based on its base stats. Its stats can be above, below, or the same as its base stats.
[edit] Zones
A zone is a collection of rooms that sometimes has an accompanying storyline to it. Some zones in the game are found directly on the wilderness map while others are not as easily accessible. Many zones have internal puzzles or 'mazes' to solve in order to obtain experience or equipment while others are cities where players gather and socialize. Zones are either LPK, NPK, CPK or some combination of the three.
- Area Types - There are five area types in the game that are broken down in to the following:
- LPK (Lawful Player Kill) - In LPK, players may attack NPCs but are restricted by the code from attacking each other unless a player has blood. A mob killed in LPK will give less experience points than if it is killed in NPK or CPK
- NPK (Neutral Player Kill) - Players may attack each other in NPK subject to certain conditions. First, a player gets blood when he or she attacks another player. Players with blood can be attacked in LPK. Secondly, if a player is killed in NPK, he or she is teleported a random distance away with only one hit point. There is no penalty for being killed by another player in NPK.
- GPK (Grave Player Kill) - A variation of NPK where when a player is killed the player is not teleported out of the zone on one hitpoint but instead suffers a normal death.
- CPK (Chaotic Player Kill) - CPK is the most dangerous area in the game, but it also is the most rewarding in terms of experience and equipment. If killed in CPK, a player will lose a level and for a brief time, other players can steal equipment from the deceased player. The existence of CPK in the game has been drawn into debate in recent weeks as the owner of the game is dissatisfied with how players who often CPK abusively treat players who do not CPK.
- LLCPK (Loot Limit Chaotic Player Kill) - A variation of CPK where the number if items that can be stolen from a recently deceased player is limited to a particular number (varies between LLCPK zones). In comparison in CPK zones the only limits on the number of items than can be stolen is time and number of attackers.
[edit] Clans and Towns
A Clan is a group of at most 51 players led by the Clan Leader and Co-Clan Leader. Clan members have a special channel dedicated to them so they can communicate with their fellow members at any time. Towns consist of at most 2 clans and have another channel dedicated to communicate between members of the same town. Towns and clans can be thought of teams - all the towns are competing against each other for their Clan rank. Clans get points for their ranking in several different categories within the game. Higher ranked towns get a hit point bonus based on their overall ranking in each of the following areas of competition:
- Towngame Ranking - A Towngame is a direct competition between two Towns in a single category. The two clans are given a goal and must obtain a required amount of points before the other town in order to win.
- Egg Ranking - When a player collects eggs from the catacombs, their clan's egg ranking raises accordingly.
- Experience Ranking - When a player kills a mob for experience, their clan's experience ranking increases.
- Clantown Ranking - Towns are given a small zone that they can edit at the cost of in-game gold. Each Town is evaluated on the size of their town zone. A clan's tax rate helps balance this ranking between the two clans in a town by devising ownership of a percentage of rooms by how much tax is paid to the leading clan.
- Trade Ranking - Like other ranks, this is a ranking based on how much trading a clan does.
- Fae Ranking - With the introduction of ships came Fae harvesting. Fae does not have any significant use in-game except for the clan ranking and how much they collect. Fae, and how it is acquired is explained in greater detail under the ships section below.
- Townland Ranking - The newest ranking category, Townland is currently a direct function of the size of one's clantown. A circle of land around a given clantown is owned by the clan and is used for the Townload Ranking. In the near future, islands will be implemented and islands will play a large role in Townland rankings.
[edit] The Catacombs
The Catacombs, or 'The Combs' as they are referred to amongst the community are one of the fundamental areas related to the storyline of the game. The catacombs randomly move about the land from time to time and are an LPK zone. MOBs in the catacombs drop eggs which have many uses.
- Eggs - Aside from clan ranking, eggs are used for a number of different things. The deterioration of a piece of equipment can theoretically be lengthened to over a year by a process referred to as 'egging' in which the player trades eggs in exchange for an extra amount of life span to be added to an item. Eggs can also be traded to acquire practice points which players use to train their stats or class skills. Most importantly each player needs 1000 eggs to multi-class or reclass. Eggs are traded amongst the players and contribute to a significant part of economic activity within the game.
[edit] Dragons
There are three types of dragons which serve three different purposes within the land.
- Transportation Dragons - Good dragons are ones which assist players by transporting them abroad. Due to Medievia's enormous size it is not feasible to walk everywhere. A player may call upon a dragon at a cost of gold determined by a formula based on their total level.
- Wilderness Dragons - Wilderness Dragons are evil dragons that hunt people. Evil dragons chase after players in the wilderness randomly, and attempt to kill them and steal their gold. Players can call upon good dragons to assist them in staving off these attacks.
- Lair Dragons - Lair dragons dwell in lairs throughout the land. Groups of players hunt these dragons for their precious dragon hide. This hide can then be used to make special equipment, arguably some of the best equipment in the game. The type of equipment that can be made with these hides depends on the color of the dragon. Additionally when players encounter these lair dragons, dragon points are obtained and count towards a player's multi level requirements.
[edit] Autoquests
Autoquests are missions given to players to complete for rewards. The completion of an autoquest (or AQ) will usually grant a player with a gold prize, AQ points, and occasionally items. AQ points are also needed for multi level requirements.
[edit] Ships
One of the newest changes in Medievia was the addition of ships as a feature of Medievia V. Ships added a new seafaring element to the game.
- Fae - The primary purpose of ships is to collect Fae. Fae is collected by killing evil MOB factions while at sea. Currently under certain conditions, it is possible to attack other clan's ship(s) and steal the ship to acquire more Fae. Having large amounts of Fae however will attract more danger. There has been recent discussion in removing the PvP aspect of ships to promote the use of their intended functions.
- Serpents - Larger ships are often equipped with magical guns that can be fired at sea serpents, which attempt to attack ships by ramming them. Killing serpents awards the attacking ships with a significant amount of Fae. Larger serpents often split into several smaller serpents when killed, leading to additional peril when the smaller serpents attack the ship simultaneously.
- Khrait - The Khrait are a strange race of pirates from afar. They appear around ships that have enormous amounts of Fae aboard and attack these ships in an attempt to sink them. Players can sink Khrait ships for Fae, or capture them and kill their crew for even greater rewards.
[edit] Trading
One source of income within the game is trading which was introduced in Medievia IV. The continent of Medievia has many cities that are homes to trade posts which are connected by a network of roads throughout the kingdom. These trade posts each sell goods which a player must physically cart from post to post. Trading is a particularly long and somewhat dangerous task which requires a formation of people to group together to assist each other to complete. Most trade routes are LPK with little risk of NPK encounters. There are also CPK trade routes which yield considerably more gold, however not as popular throughout the kingdom. As a challenge, the game's Dungeon Master (or DM) attempts to improve a player's experience by invoking MOB Factions upon them. Trade points are required for a player's multi level requirements.
- Catastrophes - The value of goods will decrease from post to post as people trade. In order to revitalize the devaluing of goods, catastrophes will occur. These usually cause drastic increases in trade post values for the affected shop.
- Ship Trading - Ship trading is currently in development, but is expected to add a different dimension to gameplay and add more usefulness to ships.
[edit] Dungeon Master
The Dungeon Master or "DM" is a section of Medievia's game engine which monitors each player's gameplay experience. Medievia's developers claim this system can detect how a player feels and decides whether to invoke MOB factions which help or hinder each player performing different tasks. Additionally, the DM makes self-controlled decisions affecting many other aspects of gameplay including weather patterns and other internal game aspects.
- MOB Factions - MOB factions (or MFs) are basically a group of themed MOBs which the DM sets upon a player (or players) in many situations. There are two types of MOB factions. Ones that will try to hinder a player's ability to complete a task, and ones which will help a player complete a task.
- MF Types - The type of factions you may encounter are determined by the Dungeon Master. Little is known about how the DM determines which type a player may encounter, but the development staff have stated there is an attempt to balance a player's experience between good and bad. The severity, helpfulness and strength of a mob faction is determined by the risk level.
- Risk Level - The further away one is from Medievia City (the center of the game map,) the higher the risk level is. The risk level of an area will determine the strengths of both good and bad types of MOB factions. Risk level only affects areas of the wilderness, including the waters which ships sail in.
[edit] Bloodlines
When a player reaches Level 124 they are allowed to produce a maximum of two offspring. Each generation beneath a player grants the parent a special regeneration bonus giving them a greater game advantage. After a bloodline or people within a bloodline have a certain number of generations beneath them, a player becomes known as a Legend.
Bloodlines have their own communication channel similar to clans or towns, and players within the bloodline may telepath each other.
[edit] More About Medievia
[edit] Purchasing game items
Medievia is a for-profit company funded by the sale of in-game items for currency (USD.) Players can purchase special pieces of equipment that can substantially increase player statistics such as hit points and mana; increase the regeneration of hit points and mana; or confer certain abilities (including nearly instantaneous resurrection and faster transportion via increasing a dragon's speed while flying.) These purchased objects (termed "donation" items) significantly boost characters, to the extent that players who do not purchase said items can be at disadvantages, especially for competitive play against other players (and especially at higher character levels.)
All donation items, while providing an advantage to players, are not a requirement, and as such, no donation items are needed for one to reach the ranks of Hero (completing all 124 levels.) It is not uncommon for players to obtain their first donation items after Heroing. Though donation items provide said benefits, there are in-game ways to remain competitive. By example, while the donation item 'the Draconian Charm' significantly speeds up a dragon's flight time, Heroes known as Dragon Hunters also fly at twice the speed. Dragon Hunters are represented by the top 20% of online players with the most DragonPoints (obtained by dealing damage to a dragon.) Because Dragon Lairs are ran by multiple forms of players, it is not necessary to have any donation equipment to be a Dragon Hunter.
The same donation item also reduces the cost of calling dragons. However, Heroes may obtain a free mount by remaining Champion Heroes. A Champion Hero is one who is in the top 10% of Heroes who have competed in HeroBattles. HeroBattles take place in a special arena, where no outside equipment is used. As such, no donation items affect a HeroBattle, or the ability to be a Champion Hero.
For those who do not wish to donate their own money, the option of 'donation deals' is available. This active in-game market allows players to trade in-game currency ("gold") to other players who purchase donations items with real world currency. Exchange rates of in-game gold to real world currency have varried over the course of Medievia's existence.
Other options to obtain donation items include writing for Medievia's in-game published Newsletter dubbed the 'Mudslinger.' Gods who actively contribute their time and resources via adding content to the game also receive donation items.
Players may purchase items ranging in price from $20 to $50 USD. During the holiday season (usually beginning sometime in October,) the prices of most of these items are reduced.
[edit] Controversy Surrounding Code Authorship
[edit] Claims of License Violation
As mentioned earlier, Medievia was originally designed using the Merc MUD engine, which in turn was a derivative of the Dikumud open source codebase. The license for this codebase includes the following requirement: "You may under no circumstances make profit on *ANY* part of DikuMud in any possible way."
Critics such as Richard Woolcock (known as KaVir on the Internet), the author of the GodWars codebase, Michael Seifert (one of the original Diku codebase authors) and numerous others (see Comparison of Merc 1.0 and Medievia IV) claim that Medievia still is a Diku derivative. Since Medievia sells in-game items (termed "donation" items) for profit, this is a violation of the Diku and Merc licenses. Critics also claim that Medievia's behavior has damaged open source MUD codebase initiatives. Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt, one of the Diku creators, has written, "Vryce [Michael Krause] was indeed one of the major reasons I stopped contributing to the community, and found other places to spend my energy".
A large file containing leaked Medievia version 4 source code drew commentary from many developers that at least for some years of its existence, Medievia was a Diku/Merc derived MUD; this was the version the game's principals claim was completely original[1]. Michael A. Smith, an original co-creator of Medievia MUD with Mr. Michael Krause, has stated that the code base was and always is a Diku derivative. However, Michael Smith's involvement with Medievia ended soon after it began.
A former volunteer programmer for the game ("Thranz") has also stated that the source code was clearly a derivative of DikuMud, to the extent of retaining comments by the original developers (as of c. 2000). Other administrators of the game (see "Omawarisan's spew" below) have stepped down, citing concerns over the license violations. "Omawarisan" also addresses the question of whether rewrites affect a program's status as a derivative in a rather eloquent fashion. Richard Woolcock's page (see the "External Links" section below) contains a lengthy list of comments on the controversy from Dikumud and Merc developers, as well as former Medievia developers and administrators, along with code comparisons.
The code theft issue has been used in at least one attempt to discredit the game and its staff.[2]
[edit] Medievia's counter-claim
Medievia's owner Michael Krause claims that these allegations are unfounded and that the entire MUD has been rewritten completely in version 4, thus making it no longer a derivative work. Supporters of the game state that the Merc code that the MUD was based on was 26,000 lines of code, and assert that Medievia's code today comprises over 500,000 lines. They also state that "Medievia's code has been re-written several times and most recently it has been converted to C++ from the original C. It is now (2005) in version 5 and vastly differs from the Medievia that was started in 1992." Many programs which are valid C are also valid C++, so it may be debated the extent to which this is important. Medievia has now been updated to be a 64-bit application, but this type of change generally requires only minor rewrites as well.
