[MUD-Dev] Another Approach (was: Integrating PK)

[Brandon Gillespie]

Just some thoughts and opinions on this matter.  My plans for an RPG mud
include PK, but not in any incarnation I've seen so far.  Basically, I'm
going to make it as 'real' as possible within the world's context.  With
this in mind a player should be able to attack and/or kill ANYTHING, be it
a tree or person.  There is no distinction between NPCs and players, other
than the fact that NPCs can cheat.  Any time a 'person' is killed or even
attacked within a lawful area (such as a city) the possibility will exist
that an investigation will occur, just like in Real Life.  So if Joe-Power
decided to thump on Sue-Newbee, and kills her, the system will immediately
begin an investigation, possibly even sending a few NPCs around for good
measure ('invesigating of course').  Now, the system knows who really did
it, so it'll have to pretend on the investigation.  If the person took no
means to disguise their identity it should be pretty easy to find out who
they were (especially on a MUD with magic, where you can just throw off a
quick post-cognition spell).  All of these factors would be taken into
account, and the investigation would be run by the system for a few days
RPG time.  The result of the investigation would be determined ahead of
time, but could be changed by either an admin or possibly an informant who
gould give more information in the case.

The end result is: players can run and kill others, but there will be
consequences--possibly even a long-term imprisonment if not execution.
either way the player is punished by having their character terminated or
taken out of action--and in a VR way that they cannot complain about
because they knew of the reprecussions ahead of time.

With this sort of system in mind I think PKing will essentially take care
of itself (for the most part), just like it does in Real society.  Sure,
you will still have the muders far out in the woods which may go
unsolved--but at that point the player should be more aware of running
through less lawful areas alone.

The appropriatness for this solution is rather world based--its great for
my world, which is future/sci-fi/fantasy based (so both technology and
magic can be brought into an investigation--magic helps make trials much
shorter, or at least immediately incriminates the majority of stupid
criminals). 

-Brandon Gillespie