[MUD-Dev] Re:

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 27 Aug, clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:
> In <3.0.2.32.19970821122620.00b4d3f0 at mail.tenetwork.com>, on 08/21/97 
>    at 12:40 PM, Jeff Kesselman <jeffk at tenetwork.com> said:

> >At 10:05 AM 8/21/97 PST8PDT, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:

> >>Do NOT under ANY circumstances build rape code into your game. It's just
> >>not an amusing option, and can have some serious repercussions for
> >>survivors of such incidents.

> ...deletia...

> >We are talking a  VERY personal invasion of privacy on a
> >psychological level, and roleplay by definitio nis a psychologoical
> >exercise.

> Given a non-immersive RP game, if necessary a GOP game or at least a
> game with little concentration on RP, would your position change?

On a low RP game I would be even more opposed to it. The command (not
the implicit ability)  would be considered 'fun'.  This is even worse
as it belittles the experience of real victims.
On full immersive RP games  there is no need for a command like this,
so there is no reason to add it to any game.

> Would you assert that a rape dramatised in a MUD bears anything near
> the magnitude of the strength of effect of a rape IRL?

Yes. Except for the fear of death there is little difference.

> Note: I'm not trolling here.  I've already posted my current position
> on the area.  I'm interested in divining the underpinnings to other's
> reactions.  My suspicion is that the anathem is due to the relation of
> a virtual incident to the horror a RL incident, and that the virtual
> incident in fact has little emotive impact in itself due to its
> diversion from RL (ie virtual-ness).

No. To females there is a real probability of being victim of an (at-
tempted) rape.  This is what makes it something that has no place in
a game.  To the victims it is the traumatic memories and the implied
suggestion that their experiences are not to be taken serious  (they
are after all part of a game aren't they?).

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey