[MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics [was Affecting

[Koster]

On Tuesday, December 09, 1997 2:24 AM, Mike 
Sellers[SMTP:mike at online-alchemy.com] wrote:

> We talked here recently about IC vs OOC communication.  I wonder how 
it
> would be if we removed a layer of the anonymity of the MUD by 
allowing you
> to do a "player" or "ooc" command that gives you the *user's*
> description/information -- name, age, gender, that sort of thing, 
not their
> address or phone number.  At least then (with somewhat robust 
registration
> features) you'd have a chane of knowing who the *player* was "across 
the
> table" from you.  This might actually have the result of channeling 
OOC
> chat away from the main game AND not giving jerks the feeling that 
they can
> fully hide behind their character.  Thoughts?

Well, as you pointed out, a lot of UO players use ICQ. Which gives 
someone who knows something about the Internet access to their IP 
address. We have had *many* reported cases of people using sociket 
spamming and ping o' death techniques on victims this way. So based on 
that, I'd argue that the yes, it may have this result, but that the 
data on the screen still doesn't add up to "a person" psychologically 
until they have more personal contact than the above describes.

-Raph