[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[Jeff Kesselman]

At 01:54 AM 9/1/97 PST8PDT, you wrote:
>[Jeff K:]
>> At 08:37 AM 8/31/97 PST8PDT, Adam wrote:
>> >Here it's difficult to define 'abuse'...I suppose it's up to the
>> >admin.  If a clever player finds a way to gain an advantage by using
>> >something in a way I as the coder never though of, I will applaud them.
>> 
>> I see two problems with this in practical applciation.  Misusing  (or if
>> you prefer taking advantage of) bugs in the system tends to be a MUCH more
>
>I didn't say 'bugs', I said things that coders hadn't thought of.
>A well-written system will always have many, many things that are perfectly
>acceptable tactics which the folks who created the system didn't think of.

It depends on what you mean didn't think of.  I think you are wandering off
of my original post which was about abuse of the system.  I don't consider
"Hey, if we attack from both sides its easier for me to get a back stab"
abuse. I do consider duping, finding a clear hole in the combat logic that
allows unresonable things to occur, and such abuse.  This was my intent.

Clearly when you responded I just hand't made mysefl clear enough.


>> effective way to "win." Therefor if you allwo thsi behavior, or mroe
>> encourage it, you really HAVE defined your game as trying to break the
>> system.  That's ALWAYS the winning strategy.
>
>Right on.  Only thing I'm confused about is why this is a 'problem'.

See the above.  Do yo uwant peopel playign your game ("living" your
simualtion) or do you want them lookign for logixc holes and makign it a
logic/debugging game?

>
>> Secodn problem is that thsi attitude leads to hacking very quickly, as soon
>> as you have closed ,msot of the obbvious or easy bugs.
>
>Erm...I don't follow.  Maybe the commercial game world is different, but
>I can think of several muds right off the top of my head that encourage
>this sort of behavior from players and have been on-line without any hacking
>attempts (or at least, successful ones) for years.

Yes, because you misunderstood the behavior I was talking about to begin with.
>> effective IMO yo uwill end up with "Karma wars" with guilds pooling their
>> karma points and aoiming them aqt leaders of opposing guilds and such..
>
>Yeah, that was my aim.

Alright, but then its not "Karma", by my definition. Its merely another
neutral weapon and no different from beating on each other to solve problems.

JK

Jeff Kesselman
Snr. Game Integration Engineer
TEN -- The Total Entertainment Network -- www.ten.net

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