[MUD-Dev] Wild west (was Guilds & Politics)

[Mike Sellers]

At 01:17 PM 12/10/97 PST8PDT, Alex Oren wrote:
>Player-based law enforcement (or any player-run government) assumes (a) a
>stable, more-or-less constant, player base, and (b) regular player 
>cooperation.  Problem is, you just cannot count on it.

I'm not so sure.  In a commercial game I can count on a more or less
constant player base for months (at least) at a time -- by which I mean
that the churn level of fairly to very experienced characters is very low
(if you're doing your job in customer support right! ;) ).  And you can
count on some significant degree of player cooperation *IF* they perceive
that they are acting independently and working in their own best interests.  

>I think that code-based law enforcement in certain areas will provide 
>newbies with a sense of safety and social RPers with undisturbed play.
>OTOH, the lack of it in other areas may create either lawless zones or,
>eventually, player-run societies.

Player-run societies will only emerge when the players have the ability to
regulate themselves -- law enforcement is part of this.  Player-run
societies is, frankly, one of my top goals. 

Mike Sellers                     mike at online-alchemy.com
     Online Alchemy             A division of The Big Network

    Combining art & science to create new worlds.