[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[Marian Griffith]

On Sat 30 Aug, Jeff Kesselman wrote:
> At 09:52 PM 8/30/97 PST8PDT, you wrote:

> >I'm not sure if there are many kinds of harassment. In the end it all comes

> <good definition deleted, thank you for it.>

> I dont disagree. As you were observing I w s talkign abotu methods not goals.
> I do however thing tehre are 2 basic "kinds" of absuers I have seen...
> (1) Those wh oabuse the game in order to "win".
> (2) Thsoe who abuse the game in order to annoy.

I guess the first isn't exactly harassment while the second is. (There has
to be a certain repetition aimed at a specific person to turn being offen-
sive into being harassing I think but that's not particularly important in
this discussion).  You are right  that in both cases there is a player who
abuses the game.

[snip]

> >I'm slightly opposed to something like this. Firstly because I'm not too
> >certain that it is very effective  and secondly because it puts a burden
> >on the victim  to take steps against being harassed.  This seems morally
> >wrong to me somehow.

> Hmm. I guess I feel we all shoudl be responsible to defend ourselves to the
> level available to us.  I DO believe in personally responsabiltiy for both
> abuser and abused.

It's a moral question with me rather than a practical one. Basically what
the muzzle command says is:  We are providing a command so you can ignore
verbal harassment more effectively.  I would prefer the initial signal to
be more like: We are taking active measures to prevent verbal harassment.
If one player harasses another then it should really be made clear to the
player doing the harassment that this is unacceptable. Muzzling is a pri-
vate precaution that combats the symptoms, not the cause of harassment. A
persistent harasser will find other means to continue his or her unsavory
activities
There is the minor problem of practicality though. 

> >And yes, harassment can be direct or indirect.  Talking negatively about
> >another player all the time is also a form of harassment that doesn't go
> >away by muzzling.

> Exceopt that it really does.  Ive used the muzzle very successfully and Ive
> had charcters that were hated by lamers and verbally abused regulalrly.
> ocne in awhiel someone woudl say to me "Is such and sucxh rumor true? So
> and so said.."
> And Ild simply say, "No, and I muzzle those idiots so I dont' have to
> listen to their nonsense."  and that ALWAYS ended it.
> There is no fun in bothering someone who you cant see respond, they
> eventually give up and go botehr someoen mreo afraid to muzzle then me.

I'm beginning to get the vague idea that we're talking about different
things when we mention muzzle. What do you say it does?

> >I think that if more than 3 people muzzle the same player that should be
> >a sign for the staff to seriously follow (snoop) that player for a time.
> >Another thing that might be helpfull is to give players a limited access
> >to a log command.  I.e. if somebody is harassing then the victim can log
> >whatever that person says and does in his or her presence. This will not

> We already have a limited log. ist onyl limietd in that its logegd on the
> palyers machein so its not reliable. Or new design hs a a generic
> "Complain" command that logs the last 50 lines or so of text and sends it
> to the staff leader directly.  This is improtant amogn other thinsg ecbause
> we have made staff "anonynmous" to users.  Thsi is to prevent cliqueishness
> and cult of eprsonality problemsd that we HAVE seen happen in teh current
> game.  So aplyer who has a problem with a staff member needs to dfo a
> "ComplaiN". The log thats sent shows who the staffer really was.

It would really work very well  if applied against other players as well.
As long as it is clearly understood that official investigation generally
results in somebody being suspended from the game temporarily.

> We have a fgood deal of OTERH kidsn of trips and logs as well to watch for
> other kidsn of problem behavior, but our first lien of defense here has
> bveen to make every kind of behavior that we consider a serious problem
> have negative in game consquences.

Good!

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey