[MUD-Dev] Life

[Jeff Kesselman]

At 08:27 AM 6/3/97 PST8PDT, you wrote:

>You can be upset or not if you like.  I don't like being upset, myself.
>I don't find it very fun.  As long as:
>
>1) The scope, purpose, and limitations of the game are made clear from the
>outset
>2) All character behave within this scope
>
>Then there's no reason anyone should ever be 'upset'.  (I'm considering
>'upset' to be really disturbed, as opposed to just disapointed or slightly
>perturbed.)
>
>We are very clear in the help files that our world is dangerous; there
>are a lot of racial hatreds, religious conflicts, magical conflicts,
>dangerous creatures roaming the lands, strange magical forces at work

Marian's summation is something i agree with strongly and why I keep
harping on "define your game".  But in the above exampel you HAVENT defined
your game. You've only defined your agme world.  The game a bunch of adult
roleplayers will PLAY in that world is totally different and has totally
different ASSUMED RULES (important concept, the "social contract") then the
one a bunch of serious Pkillers wil play.  You need to define not what the
players can expect of your world setting (though that is helpful for
Roleplayers to undertsnad what kinds of characters fit) but what your GAME
EXPECTS OF THE PLAYERS.

Without this you have the problems and hurt feelings Marian referenced.

If you expect it to be a player-kills-player world, you need that upfront.
if you exptec it to be a cooperative roleplay envrionment, you need to say
THAT.

>
>So I still don't understand why you should ever be seriously upset as long
>as everyone is keeping everything in the context of the game.  (Ie, not

One more time.
Because roleplayers play with respect for each others characters and
stories and do not intentionally impinge on them or take control away.
Pkilling as a regular thing does take control away.  Neither is right or
wrong, btu they are imcompatable game models.

We've gone over this so many times I'm having trouble figuring out what we
are doing wrong in explaining this. Can someone maybe assist?

>Yup, that's what I've been saying.  We've found that it's easy enough to
>make enemies that you tend to be a little careful about what you say, and


Hmm. Intersting. We've seen the opposite. In a heavy Pk environemnt,
assholes work hard to "max out" and then use it as a lever to abuse, annoy,
and "talk -shit" to other players.  Maybe thats a questio nto a degree of
your combat model.  DSO had a particualrly poor one.


>around who.  This is as opposed to a no-PK whatever where people can
>stand around in town all day long bragging about this or that item they
>have, talking shit to various players, and so on, without every worrying.

I guess I have to ask 'so what??" if your MUD doesnt have a muzzle, I'ld
never play it unless I was assured that you were doing rigerous control of
the user population.

JK