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

[Jon A. Lambert]

On 10 Dec 97 at 13:32, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Dec 1997, Ola Fosheim Grostad wrote:
> 
> > Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl> wrote:
> > >But to answer your question. No. There is nothing inherently wrong with
> > >being a jerk on a roleplaying game,  but only if you are actually role-
> > >playing that jerk. There is a great deal wrong with -being- a jerk on a
> > >roleplaying game.
> > 
> > In some sense I agree, although I think most jerks are jerks because
> > they view the game as DOOM.  It is however a bit difficult to tell
> > whether they are a jerk or are trying to roleplay one, from the
> > outside.  I guess one could rephrase my question as: Isn't it true
> > that you invite people to act like jerks my calling your MUD a game or
> > a roleplaying game?  Can you really blame them? :-)
> 
> No, it is not true! And it is also, at least by my definitions, to tell a
> real jerk apart from someone who is trying to roleplay a jerk character.
> Assuming we have a noted division between in and out of character (which
> we would assumably have in a roleplaying environment), the jerk is someone
> who acts such in *out of character circumstances* whereas the person
> playing a jerk character would do the inverse.
> 
I would tend to agree with Matt.  If you use the "invitation to my mud" as
"invitation to my house" analogy, the player jerk is very easily 
identifiable from the character jerk.  As your house gets larger and you 
hold larger and larger parties, the player jerk becomes harder to spot,
yet they _will_ be spotted.  I believe that many admins make the mistake of 
dealing lightly with the jerk, giving them second chances, due process and 
all sorts of nonsense.  Real jerks have learned that there are no real or 
painful consequences to their "net" behaivor.  Retraining or reforming them 
is not my business.    

--
Jon A. Lambert
"Everything that deceives may be said to enchant" - Plato