[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[Jon A. Lambert]

On 25 Aug 97 at 22:52, Jeff Kesselman wrote:
> At 10:25 PM 8/25/97 PST8PDT, Jon Lambert wrote:
> >Isn't it odd that murder, stealing, racial hatred/genocide and 
> 
> Most of us have not been the direct victims of murder (ie have nti had
> friends or family murdered). I personally DONt think Pc v. PC stealign is a
> good idea as I've arleady said.  I personalyl use racial hatred/genocide
> themes only VERY carefully in face to face games. 

You don't follow the line that the orcs vs humans and elves vs 
dwarves, et al common to most generic fantasy is akin promotion of
racial intolerence?  Not even subconsciously?

> roleplay and icnrease our sensativity, the problem is that players have
> proven they are NOT sensative to each other the way even a mediocre judge
> is to his players.
> 
> In the hands of the insensative these are horrendous thinsg to do to one
> anothers psyche.

Like I stated earlier, you opinion of the general population is much 
lower than mine.  Sensitivity is not a religion to be practiced 
by the few who have been properly trained.  Its a natural trait 
occurring more or less in all humans, male and female.  I happen to 
believe most of those I have gamed with possess a significant 
quantity of this trait.  It is quite common to most of those engaged 
in RP as a pasttime.  Hyper-sensitivity on the other hand is just as 
bad as no sensitivity, IMO. 

> 
> >demonology are quite frequent and acceptable in muds.  Does vampiric 
> 
> Heh. Demons dont exist-- at least i believe they dont-- so its totally
> different. 

I think you would be suprised at how sensitive many are to this 
issue and how many find it offensive.  Many of these avoid FRPG 
entirely for this and other reasons.  You don't care about this 
audience?  

> >feeding with all it's WoD thematic connotations constitute rape? 
> >Just a thought...
> >
> 
> Ah. I cna answer this having playesd a WoDish vampire game and character.
> the answer is that Vampiric feeding can be simply physical or can be sexual
> dpeendant on the "author."  Traditionally its sexual, and most players of
> these kidsn of games thus get implicit consent of the other party before
> playignotu such a scene.

Implicit consent?  Hasn't this notion been known to lead to rape.
If you allow players to engage in netsex, how do you know netrape
is not occurring?  This is a serious question BTW.
Does it go unreported?

> >However there have been many games where torture of NPCs and, on
> >occasion, torture of PCs had occurred and were all done IC with no
> >OOC baggage.  I once game-mastered a session where a group of good 
> 
> Right, because there WAS no OOC baggage.  Thsi is the point.  3 out of 5
> women sitting down to your game WILL brign SERIOUS OOC baggage to rape and
> its hardly their fault.
>
> If ours was a society where people were dragged off by teh government and
> totrued every day i DOUBT you'ld include thsi in your RP.
>

The international nature of the net makes this more likely. Are mud 
implementors responsible for mental "baggage" their players may or 
may not bring?  This baggage can be religious, political, social or 
sexual.  If a mud has a disclaimer that one must be 18 or older to
play and that they may witness scenes with strong language, sexual
situations and offensive religious or racial material, has the mud
implementor met his/her responsibility?   Or is he/she being a 
"fruser"? 

> Rape does not threaten most young men because
> they don't have a terribly high likelyhood of beign raped either in their
> past or near future. 

60% of all rapes occur with children and is significantly a gender 
neutral event and is not unusual that it is perpertrated by a female. 
Your 3 of 5 statistics are wildy far out if you imply these refer to 
rape (You never really explained what these refer to exacty).  
I am aware that 1 in 4 college women experience assaults or attempted 
assaults.  I am also aware that 1 in 3 women will experience an 
assault within their lifetime. Even this is NOT gospel.  Quoting 
lower and more reliable statistics is also NOT an indication that one 
considers the offense less vile nor is less sensitive.  My statistics 
come from the National Victim Center and the American Medical 
Association.


 
Jon A. Lambert