[MUD-Dev] The 'Socialiser' problem

[Martin Keegan]

On Fri, 8 Aug 1997, Greg Munt wrote:

> 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 Socialisers are not players, they are users. They place no value in
the gaming experience or the game world.

> The needs/requirements of Socialisers seem to be at odds with the 
> server requirement to model aspects of reality.
> 
> 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

I make sure that people understand that their every word can be overheard.
Destroying any sense of privacy prevents the Game from turning into a
talker. If they want a talker, then version 0.2 can be brought up on some
other port.
 
> 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.

You can't please the Socialisers and model reality simultaneously in any
nice way, so you've got to sacrifice one of your goals. My approach is
simply to ignore the Socialisers who contribute nothing to the game, and
think of ways to decrease their numbers. Spades trump hearts.

Mk