[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[Jeff Kesselman]

At 07:33 PM 8/26/97 PST8PDT, you wrote:
>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?

Hmm Sure I do...  

Matter of fact i have ANOTHER story to tell... (sorry)
I played a Paladin many years ago in a friends world.  When iasked hi mwhat
religons he supported in his game he said 'all the stadnard AD&D oens, plus
christianity".  "Aha," I say, being a little high schoo lsnot nosed shot
(he was i ncollege), "if you have christianuity, dont you have to have
judaism implicitly".  he tought fro a moment and readily agreed and thus
was born Jpe the Jewish Paladin (and 2 poinst to nayoen who cna tell me why
thats a pun.)

Anyway playing a character whsoe mroality I coudl really get itn oand
udnerstand, i came to a startling realizatio naround 5th level.  So called
"adventuring" meant trackign down creatures, often intelligent, generally
just mindign theirvown busines, and killign them for their stuff.  Thsiw as
NOT soemthing a good jew could engage in and so he retired to town gaurd
and onyl fought thsoe that came lookignofr a fight.

Now to teh questio nat hand, I dont and never have run "lets go kil lthe
orcs" games, nor doI particualrly enjoy them.  The games I have always
enjoyed had far deeper motivatiosn for the charcters and mroe obvious evil
to oppose.

>
>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 

Oh I disagree 100%. it is a trained response that too few odern americans
are traiend with. if yo uwant an extreme example, look at the "conflict
resolution' trainign they do with inenr city gang kids. Most of it is
remedial sensativity training.


>in RP as a pasttime.  Hyper-sensitivity on the other hand is just as 
>bad as no sensitivity, IMO. 

Absolutely.  Unfrotunately I have just abotu never seen hyepr-sensativity
in thsi sense.  i have seen hyper SELF-sensativity ie hyper-sensativity to
thinsg that make someoen p[ersonally feel badf, but nto hyper sensativity
to the feelinsg of others.

>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?  

Nope. I don't, aprticualrly, though ive never done much with daemoins and
devils myself either-- WAY to chrsitian for my tastes.  How many of thes
epoeple though have acutally BEEN acosted by a deaom or devil?  its STILl
apples and orenges.

Why is it so hard for peopel to understand that basic element here-- a
frightening majority of the women yo umeet are liekly to have BEEN raped.
Its really that simple.

>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?

Eiterh I used a bad term or yo uare misunderstanding me.  T mean a very
real consent.  Ist teh same implicit consent my wife gave me to helping her
otu of her shirt and bra when we were dating. its is accomplished by taking
EXTREMELy small steps and watching CREFULLY for the response at each step.

It is implicit because I never looedk her in teh eye and said "Do you mind
if I undress you and fondle your breasts?"  That woudl ahve destroyed the
mood.  Similarly, the WoD players I know dont want to deastroy the modo but
are VERY careful and slow with these actiosn in game.


>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 

Yes, toa  degree.  

I'm sorry i happen to believe in social responsabiltiy in all things.  If
you are setting up a MUD in an environment where you know soemthign to be a
probable psychological trauma for a significant numeb fo your players, yo
uowe them at LEAST a fair warning at the sign up page.  I bleive that.
>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).  

Tehse are the numebrs I was always told.  These are the numerbs I didn't
believe until I was granted access to the taboo subject.  
I now believe them.

Thats all I can tell you. Except that ntil I proved I was not going to
fight with teh victims on their feelings or expereinces I was NOT granted
access.  I suspect you would not be.

JK
Jeff Kesselman
Snr. Game Integration Engineer
TEN -- The Total Entertainment Network -- www.ten.net

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