[MUD-Dev] The 'Socialiser' problem

[Nathan Yospe]

On Fri, 8 Aug 1997, Greg Munt wrote:

:The ultimate aim of my server is to attempt, in some respects, to model 
:reality.

:I ran a TinyMUD for several years. Its users could be partitioned into 
:two sets:

:   1. Socialisers (This label is used, since members of this set are closely 
:      related to Bartle's Socialisers; members of this set do not role-play 
:      in any way.) 

:   2. Softcoders.

:   Users can be members of both sets.
:   Users can be members of the Socialiser set only.
:   Users cannot be members of the Softcoder set only.

What, no roleplayers whatsoever?

:Thus, I believe I know a fair amount about what Socialisers demand of the 
:games they use. 

:I wish my server to be attractive to all types of player. 
:The needs/requirements of Socialisers seem to be at odds with the 
:server requirement to model aspects of reality.

True. I have solved it by effectively splitting my game... I'll discuss
later.

:IMHO, Socialisers want and need:

:  1. To be able to pass private messages to their friends, remotely (this 
:     functionality is commonly implemented via a 'page' or 'tell' command)
:     - this, in addition to the use of chatting channels, may be used by 
:     the socialiser to communicate to many of their friends at the same 
:     time, who may all be in different locations

*nod*

:  2. To be able to send 'mail' to their friends, at no charge or detriment 
:     (communication to a friend who is not connected at the same time as the 
:     user)

Again, familiar...

:  3. To be able to read and post messages to a public bulletin board system;
:     you may only remove messages you have posted yourself, unless you are
:     some kind of 'superuser'/administrator

Yup.

:  4. To converse through a 'chatting channel' medium

Uh huh.

:  5. To have their own, personal, private room (again, at no charge or 
:     detriment) - this area may be used to 'entertain' close friends

Mmm. OK, this is a little different...

:  6. To instantaneously teleport to various locations within the game 
:     (such as their personal room, or the personal room of a friend - also 
:     to 'public' rooms)

This too.

:  7. Various public rooms where they may meet and befriend other Socialisers

Yup.

:  8. A 'profile' - information supplied by themselves, about themselves; 
:     this may be viewed by any other user at any time

Yeah.

:  9. Other things that I have probably forgotten about

Finger style commands, emotes with no physical consequences.

Except for 4 and 5 (and even those in a couple of cases) I have found that
I invariably use the Rom I started on as a socializer, and have since
major changes (to the detriment of the game) were wrought many years ago.

:The server requirements prevent these demands from being met:

:  1. There is no way to communicate to someone who is many miles away 
:     (not even shouting could achieve this)

Agreed.

:  2. If a postal service is provided, it will never be for free 

Debateable. But it is certainly never going to be free for personal
business, which chatting amounts to. (I refer to use in character for
memos, passing orders, whatever.)

:  3. What stops someone removing scraps of paper from a board, whether 
:     they put them there or not? What stops them removing the *board*, if 
:     they really want to?

Nothing. What stops corpse looting, tree burning, planet busting?
Fortunately, absolutely nothing in the system's code in Physmud++... So
far, I agree absolutely.

:  4. No way of justifying the existence of chatting channels

Nope. Well... aside from net terminals and general access chat groups...
but that leaves you open to attack, and costs $$$, and requires tech.

:  5. If you do have some sort of 'free' area, it wont have much privacy - 
:     the most that could be justified is some kind of shelter for the 
:     homeless

How about a clearing in a forest?

:  6. No way of justifying the existence of a teleport system

Even if there were, it wouldn't be cheap. (Singularity is _centered_ on
personal wormhole generators - expensive as hell, can only be focused
in special circumstances, such as when gestalted by a major transport
center's computer and grav focus, otherwise might as well fly a ship into
a red giant - at least then they'll know where to put the memorial)

:  7. Public rooms can be justified - however, socialisers who do not make 
:     use of the facilities (for example, if they visit a bar regularly, but 
:     never buy anything) may soon find themselves unwelcome; to get money 
:     to pay for the facilities, they will have to 'play the game' - many 
:     Socialisers will not want to do this

Libraries are an exception to this. Of course, too much noise in a library
is a bad thing.

:  8. The most that could be justified is some sort of public record - 
:     this could not be seen from anywhere in the game, the interested user 
:     would have to go to where the record is stored

Not likely.

:Has anyone else approached these problems? The only feasible ways of 
:solving them that I can think of, involve the use of either technology 
:or magic. However, this restricts the general theme of the game, which I 
:do not want to do. In any case, dealing with the problems in this way 
:appears rather contrived, at best.

Everything you mentioned is available from (and only from, OOC) the shell
account and OOC chatrooms outside of the game itself, for me. It makes it
possible to, for example, chat with the guy from the opposing side after a
major clash between factions of the radical elements of the war (all PCs
are technically on the same side, but that doesn't stop them from
fighting, as I have learned.) in the "dressing room" or "backstage", or to
just hang out in the "singles room", the "bar", or learn something
(possibly useful for the game) in the "tutoring rooms"... Email and
newsgroups, fingers and pages (that get through to people in the game if
not blocked) are all possible from the shell.

"You? We can't take you," said the Dean, glaring at the Librarian.
"You don't know a thing about guerilla warfare." - Reaper Man,
Nathan F. Yospe  Registered Looney                   by Terry Pratchett
yospe at hawaii.edu   http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe           Meow