[MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World]

[Richard Woolcock]

Matt Chatterley wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 4 Dec 1997, Ling wrote:[snip]
> > - A higher proportion of people in muds can and will be jerks publically
> >   infront of strangers.
> 
> Yes. This is an observed phenomenon. It is also something that a high
> proportion of administrators seem to misunderstand. Because of the
> dissociation factor between you, and the game world or just game itself
> (it seems you cannot really be punished for being a jerk - sure they can
> remove you from the game, but if you are just jerking around there, you
> will either find somewhere new to annoy, or keep trying to come back).
> 
> Threatening to banish a jerk is generally not effective. I am intending to
> be nastier (and am also requiring email registration, despite many persons
> not actually liking this - the administrative benefits are large), and if
> people do commit repeat offences, they will not be allowed back on (of
> course they could use a different email address, but *really big* jerks
> will be awarded complaints directly to their admin).

I require email registration as well, although some people are taken on
trust (if they don't have email) and of course I don't accept freemail
addresses (hotmail, etc).  People can still play without authorisation,
but they are limited to the 'newbie' channel (which people can turn off
when the spammers come on) and are unable to become anything other than
a run-of-the-mill mortal (thus preventing 'spy' characters ruining clan/
sect/species wars).  At first it seemed a lot of hassle and players didn't
like it, but it DOES seem to work - players can get a feel for the game
without bothering to register, and if they like it, registering is pretty
quick (and they don't have to wait around offline for me to do it).  The 
'jerks' of the mud generally don't cause too much trouble, because it 
takes a lot longer for them to go through faking registration just to chat 
"KaVir sucks" that it does for me to type "deny jerk".

> > - Why does the same not apply to life?
> 
> Its a cause and effect psychology thing. It seems there are no 'real'
> repercussions in a virtual environment. In real life there can be quite
> immediate, and rather painful consequences.

The more severe the effect on the player, the less careless they will be.
If you use your registration system (thus forcing people to only have one
character) and then have serious consequences for actions (being thrown in
jail for a week irl, going to Hell if you die, etc) then players may start
to be a bit more careful if they really enjoy playing your mud.  Of course
you'll have to be careful with this - nobody enjoys being stuck in a prison
cell for days on end and being unable to play.

> > - Because of comeback, because they're receive pain either physically o
> >   mentally.  I do not go around clubbing someone I don't like for fear of
> >   arrest.
> 
> Exactly.
> 
> > - But mudders get 'arrested' too!
> 
> Hah!
> 
> > - Yes but it is a persona being arrested.  Anyway, there are plenty of
> >   other muds to go piss on.
> 
> What I have seen happen (typically) is that the jerk will then make a big
> thing out of being treated unfairly, how his freedom of speech is being
> impeached, and so forth (although, if you saw my posts on player rights in
> rgma, you will know how I feel on this front), and then either leave, or
> take a brief break before starting up again. Once they decide to 'piss on'
> your mud, they seem to go beyond all reason in efforts to stay.

I've found they usually give up after a while.  The really annoying part is
having to ban all their sites, resulting in you being unable to get any new
players from those sites.

> > - So get muds to form an informal mud alliance where someone blacklisted
> >   on one mud will find life difficult on other muds.
> > - This might work, difficulty in implementing due to the way people can
> >   change their id so easily.
> 
> Yup. It also creates problems when you get people blacklisted for personal
> reasons, and so forth - you would have to require a majority vote from the
> muds which know the player, with minimum numbers and so forth, to ensure
> fair treatment.
> 
> You would also need some 'central registry' of mud players, similar to the
> 'adult check' mechanisms in place for porn sites and such (the mud player
> would have to register locking an id# to RL details?). Nice idea, but as
> you say, impractical (well you don't say, you allude).

Hmmmm....

CHECKUSER BubbaMUD KaVir
Searching....found mudder KaVir:
Real name: Richard Woolcock
Age: 22
Occupation: Software Engineer
Other Aliases: Khang, Kynak, Sharlin, Rivak, Koreth.
Mudding style: Strategy-PK/roleplay.
Offence rating: 34%
Spam level: 11%
Snoop factor: 20%
Crash rating: 12%
Logworthy? No.
Suitability for BubbaMUD: 84% - Highly suitable.

tell kavir "Sure, you can play here".

:)

KaVir.