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

[Derrick Jones]

On Fri, 12 Dec 1997, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Dec 1997, Mike Sellers wrote:
> > 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.
> 
> ObDisclaimer: I *detest* player run government because I have had huge
> troubles with it in the past. I will approach this from a negative point
> of view, but try to draw positive comment.
[snip]
> The other large problem is that many game administrators think having a
> player-run council will be great, and wipe out problems. However, they
> fail to define the duties of the council and expect it to enforce things
> it cannot (for instance, things wizards normally use logs to enforce and
> other OOC matters, when the council is an IC construct). Also, they
> dislike surrendering power to the council in some cases, and instead begin
> to 'direct' the council - basically turning it into a front for
> themselves.
> 
Hrm...If you're expecting players to help admin the mud, why not simply
promote a core group (those you feel can be trusted) to godhood (or
whatever equivalent) so that they actually have the ability to do their
job.  Giving greater powers to fewer players lets you err on the side of
caution a bit more in selecting them from your playerbase.
Personally, I'd make my selection, log _everything_ that player does for a
week or two (just to make sure), then invite the player to join the staff
after the logs had been thorougly reviewed.  Time consuming, but you'll
get a lot better view of your potential staffers this way.

I also plan on periodically allowing free-form elections for several
governmental style positions.  The first group will consist of one player
from each class, will serve as player 'lobbyist' for that class, and
probably be given builder powers and nifty little titles.  Their main
purpose it to promote their particular class: suggesting skills, arguing
inequalities, designing a few quests.  The balance of power on the mud wil
rest largely on the personality of these people, as most changes will have
to pass through the god-staff (those with full code access...limited to
myself most likely), and those who argue their case the best and come up
with the best ideas will get a bit of favortism from the gods(me).  I will
probably also appoint a 'gameworld' representative charged with the job of
coming up with ways to improve the 'monsters' in ways such that will
offset any perceived gains by the players.  Basically, the goal I'm
shooting for is for the players to see visible improvement in all the
classes (thus making each seem more and more attractive), while improving
the gameworld to keep pace.

As to strict player-based law enforcement, I'll probably restrict it to a
simple outlaw/bounty system, with the gameworld and imm-staff setting
bounties.  I guess I'm too much of a control freak to like the idea of
players choosing who has the 'real' power withing the mud.  Problems I
would envision would be the over-consolidation of mortal power into a
tight-knit group, and rampant abuses (mortals can be too easily coerced or
bribed).

Derrick