[MUD-Dev] Integrating PK

[Shawn Halpenny]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:

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> ObOnTopic:
> 
>      Asserting authority is a troublesome area. What I've seen more
>      often than not is that players will not take the rules
>      seriously until someone is punished, and that rule enforcement
>      is done by humans rather than automated means. How have people
>      here tried to handle that? Is there any server out there with
>      an extensive set of automated player-monitoring code that
>      works well, and how was it conceived/implemented?

I agree.  People are much quicker to accept a rule if an example has
been made.  This is an unfortunate but necessary occurrence, I think.
Once something has happened and action taken, you've set a precedent
which can easily be referenced in the future should something similar
happen again.  Therein lies the importance of documenting your
rulings, as it were, and making them publicly available to your
players.  This is not as useful if the rules being broken are already
in place, in which case its a matter of meting out suitable
punishment or what not, but it goes a long way in establishing
guidelines for the grey-area issues--and I've found there are always
a _lot_ of those.

I've mixed motivations about automated player-monitoring code.  I've
never come across any that is really effective, and there will
_always_ be players who try to circumvent it.  In this area, I tend
to count on the players to bring things to the admininistration's
attention.  If there is a body of players that feels there is a
problem, then action can be taken, rules made, precedents set, etc. 
There is never enough time to have the admin's continually policing
the players, so I think some of the responsibility rests with the
players themselves.  This has the added benefit of often
automatically creating rules deemed necessary.

--
Shawn Halpenny

"I spilled spot remover on my dog.  Now he's gone."
                                            - Steven Wright