[MUD-Dev] The reality of constant combat??

[Jon A. Lambert]

> From: Jeff Kesselman <jeffk at tenetwork.com>
> At 09:32 PM 6/3/97 PST8PDT, JL wrote:
> 
> Okay, my point was just that societies wherin the ONLY solution to conflict
> amogn the members is serious violence don't tend to survive long as
> societies. I was asking for an exampel wehre this wasn't true.  So far it
> seems like Im safe in my supposition ;)

Now that you rephrase it this way, the probability of such a society existing
is zero.  The probability of it existing on a mud where any RP exists is 
also zero. 

> >Maybe this is the misunderstanding.  Cities do not exist for long in a
> >state of anarchy.  A power vacuum will always be filled by some group and
> >the will implement or force a government.  The form and the effectiveness
> >of such a government will and can be highly variable.  If the government 
> >is ineffective, areas like you describe below will occur.
> 
> When such government is based totally on force, they tend to destabilize as
> soonas someone else gets close to the same amount of physical power.  In a
> game designed to be "fair" there will always be many such groups warring
> for control, yes?
> 
You are using extremes to support your theory.  Total anarchy and Total 
force have never existed within the real world nor are they fairly 
representative of muds.  Muds can represent the full gamut from 
primitive tribal societies to aristocracies.

I am talking about the underlying structures of the mud theme.  It is not
a player-only world.  There is a significant NPC mud population that 
that forms the basis of the initial world.  Players will play both privately
held characters (PCs) and game held characters (NPCs) from time to time.  
NPCs have a predefined disposition and agenda of their own.  It may be 
a ruthless tyrant or wealthy merchant.  PCs may aspire to these roles and 
effect their own character driven agenda.  Warring for control can occur 
but this is not limited to violence.  It can certainly be achieved in an 
economic, religious or political manner.  I do not distinguish any 
differences between player killing and NPC killing.  There will be
in-game consequences to both situations.
  
In short, I am attempting to build a fantasy world based on interesting 
historical models.  I have no modern politics built into the game.
     

JL

-
"If I'd known it was harmless, I would have killed it myself"
*- Through a Scanner Darkly - PKD -*

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