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

[Derrick Jones]

On Sun, 14 Dec 1997, Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> Richard Woolcock <KaVir at dial.pipex.com> wrote:
> >Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> >> [snip]
> >> I find logging everything without warning to be rather immoral.  In my
> >> country it would most likely be a crime.  Respecting players privacy
> >> is for me an unbreakable rule.  In a commercial system this should be
> >> paramount.
> >>=20
> >> (A nasty sideeffect is that rumours about admins snooping on players
> >> is likely to wreck player loyalty)
> >
> >Sometimes logging is essential, particularly if you believe someone is, =
or
> >might be, cheating (but don't want to jump to conclusions) or are trying=
 to
> >work out what exactly is causing a crash.  I have the following message =
come=20
> >up the first time a player connects:
>=20
> AFAIK, according to our laws, logs should only contain information
> that is highly relevant for keeping the system running, access to logs
> should be limited and controlled, those who have access to logs are
> not allowed to spread the information, etc.  But I think Scandinavia
> is doing more to protect individuals than many other countries.  In my
> opinion this is a good thing. Computers can quickly become tools for
> fascist-like behaviour/reasoning/monitoring.
>=20
> I think one should consider the sensitivity of the information one
> logs.  Attack and walk commands are less sensitive and more relevant
> to the system than emotes, tells and says (which are highly
> sensitive).  Furthermore you don't neccessarily need the personal ID
> to work out the cause for a crash.

I personally plan to log pretty much everything.  This, more than anything
else will give me mounds of information on players' tactics, etc.  For
example, if I find that players are sneaking into rooms, backstabbing the
NPC there, then fleeing only to repeat the process until the NPC is dead,
then I need to change the code to accomidate this.  I do not concider such
things 'cheating', but it may fall into the catagory of 'gaming the game'.
I would, however, have several NPCs pick up on this tactic and either a.)
develop defences for it, or b.) begin to use the same trick themselves on
players.

Another bonus for logging all commands is that you are able to adapt your
user interface to meet changing demands placed upon it.  For example, if
the majority of my players had an alias 'buybread $n' =3D> #loop $n {buy
bread;put bread sack;}, I could then surmize that a new verb would
expidite play for not only those players, but those players who were still
typing out the repetative commands.  Also, if I found 300 instances within
the typo log (those commands not able to be successfully parsed) of
players using the verb 'speak' instead of 'say', It would be worth my
while to add the verb 'speak' as a synonym for 'say'.

Personally, I would log all local communication commands (say, tell,
whisper, ask, etc) as 'Bubba says <something>' or 'Bubba asks Boffo
<something>' without saving the actual message text.  Emotes, however, I
would log in their complete form, as they are a rich and diverse source of
ideas for system commands.  Global and public channels would probably also
keep the message text in the logs, because the privacy issue cannot hold
to a public address, but accountability can.

I'm still debating on what sort of warning I'm going to give players about
the logs.  Probably just a suggestion to check out various info files when
the character is first created.  Otherwise I'd either have to give them a
_long_ explaination or leave them with the impression that their private
conversations are recorded for blackmail...As far as access to the logs,
any IMP would be able to read them, and each person with access will be
given prior notice that any misuse of information within the logs will
result in immediate removal from their position (no warnings), and
possibly a site ban.

I also remember that at least one person is using the logs for a sort of
history playback of certain events, which is another boon of such logs.  I
will use the logs to write a sort of mud history that will grow, and be
accessible to the playerbase (in the form of books in the mud's IC
library).

Finally, the job of administration will be greatly eased by knowing
exactly what happened in any given incident.  No more claims of 'But _I'm_
the one who finished the quest first.  Boffo just spam-killed my link,
took the prize while I was reconnecting, and claimed to have won...'  A
simple, 'Well, lemme chack the logs...' will make even the most daring
trickster come clean if they know that you _do_ have the logs to back it
up.

Derrick