[MUD-Dev] New Topic: Butthead features

[Jon A. Lambert]

> From: Jeff Kesselman <jeffk at tenetwork.com>
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] New Topic: Butthead features
> 
> 
> No offense to Raph but my playing arounf with UOL broguth thsi to mind.
>
You didn't get banned already, did you? *grin*
 
> There is a philisophpical/practical issue in the inclusion in your MUD of
> "butthead" features. What I mean b ythsi are features that allow a pure
> butthead to annoy (or worse seriously harm) other players jsut for the
> cheap pwoer tip of doign so.  We all knwo thes eperosnalities exist on tegh
> ent SO...
> 
> How do you control them?

1) The newly logged in one is guided through an agonizingly long character
   creation process.  Agonizingly long for the butthead, the non-butthead 
   will likely enjoy the process.
2) The butthead discovers there are no global channels, no tele-tell and 
   other necessary conveniences to allow the fool a stage on which to
   perform.  This is real bad, for the butthead likes to annoy as many 
   people as frequently as possible.
3) The butthead cannot distinguish an NPC immediately from a PC and is
   never guaranteed to perform this recognition under all circumstances.
4) So the butthead finally finds a victim and attempts to kill or pillage
   said victim.  He finds that with almost equal frequency, he dies and
   has to undergo that agonizingly long character creation process.
5) He notices that no matter what he kills, steals or annoys, he is unable 
   to advance in any measurable way.  To his amazement, he eventually reads
   something in the rules about role-playing points which are required to
   to for development and must be given by another player of a higher
   standing.
6) Being far too much trouble, he finds another mud to terrorize.
 

> Do you just avoid features that could be so abused, or do you count on
> oither mechanisms to keep thsi behavior in chack and if so what agurantees
> do you have of success?
>

It's kept in-game.  If a butthead can be spotted by a gamemaster through
passing observation before any negative game result, some in-game 
prevention and aid to the victim can occur.  Often this may be the 
"coincidental" arrival of well-armed city guardsmen.
Gamemasters and many players have the ability to jump into NPCs to
perform the appropriate spanking.  The butthead is guaranteed by his
very nature to never advance to this level of trust.

> 
> Some exampels of butthead features include..
> 
> (1) PC pickpocketing of other PCs... always upsets people.
> (2) Fixed tport points so that oterh can lay in wait and way-leigh
> unsuspecting traverls befoe they can see whats up.
> (3) The ability to take control of OTHERS PCs and make them do things (The
> Provocation skill in UOL looks at first blush particuarly nasty in this
> regard.)

These are all nice features to have, don't forget player-killing. :P




JL