[MUD-Dev] PK again (was: Character evolution)

[Matt Chatterley]

On Wed, 17 Sep 1997, Marian Griffith wrote:

> On Wed 17 Sep, Matt Chatterley wrote:

[Snipple]
 
> > Vastly so. The more and more realistic you make anything (within any
> > theme), the more ways you provide for people to be directly and indirectly
> > injured by others. Wether PK is possible or not - remember these other
> > 'indirect' (or 'consequential') ways of killing, since they are extremely
> > hard to stamp out. Less so than if you have 'optional' PK, mind you, since
> > you can usually get away with 'if a player is the root cause.. do not hurt
> > players' as a universal rule, which, while it may be daft in some
> > situations, is not as daft as only hurting some players.
> 
> > Hence my reasoning for not stopping PK in any way shape or form (but then,
> > it will always be dangerous - a well equipped newbie would be a match for
> > a moderately experienced by poorly equipped player). Avoid angry mobs if
> > possible.
> 
> In my thinking PK is not a problem with abilities but with mentality.
> That means the prevention should be handled through administration
> rather than through the code. A game mechanic that makes fighting
> other players dangerous is not going to deter unstable or plain
> obnoxious players.

Ah, no, of course not. The situation I have is actually an accident
(although a happy one). If/When (more likely to be the latter) a PC dies,
they have to struggle somewhat to return to life (it is very much a
non-trivial experience, and permanent death is possible, increasingly so
the longer you remain 'dead'). This takes time, during which they are more
or less removed from the 'group game' - since PKers (for any reason) will
probably not last long (guards in safe areas, vengeful games in unsafe
areas, and so on), they will have to decide if the kill is really worth
the hassle (assuming they are a *regular* player of some sort -
non-regular players, eg the 'idiots' will find themselves knocked out of
the playing zone, and will probably not bother with trying to return).

I don't actually wish to prevent PK - if someone does, I advice removing
direct means (eg ways to directly attack another player), and punishing
indirect (but seemingly deliberate - this IS of course not a perfect
method!) kills via administrative channels.
 
> > You pays your money, you takes your choice, basically. I feel similarly,
> > and want to allow full on PK (I don't actually expect it to happen,
> > though, since the consequences in a safe area will probably be lethal, and
> > the result of this removes you from the game for some time - the 'arse'
> > minded player who likes to chain kill people will have to actually play
> > after the kill to get back into the game).
> 
> That will prevent the mild cases. But the truly obnoxious (insert your
> favourite expletive) player is going to just write off a character and
> create a new one. Short of sitebanning nothing is going to stop those.

Those who create several characters and abuse the game in this fashion
will find themselves 'register locked' (they must email to be permitted a
character), and if possible, will find a complaint against them lodged
with their systems administrative services.

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics." -?