[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wired Magazine...)

[Robert Woods]

On Sat, 1 Aug 1998, Marian Griffith wrote:

> On Fri 31 Jul, J C Lawrence wrote:
> > On Thu, 9 Jul 1998 19:39:45 +0100 (BST) 
> 
> > Marian Griffith<gryphon at iaehv.nl> wrote:
> 
> > > The problem as I (and the original author) have is not so much that
> > > Buffy's shop can be raided but that it is Buffy herself who has to
> > > defend it.  She is a tailor and possibly has no interest at all in
> > > becoming a sword swinger or else she would not have chosen that
> > > profession in the first place. 
> 
> > There's a design choice implicit in there under the inferred "right"
> > to do soley what she is intersted in, or to rephrase "To what extent
> > are the game or the game designers obligated to support narraw career
> > definitions?":
> 
> >   Buffy is a tailor and thereby should (pick one):
> 
> >     a) Never have to involve actions or skills notably outside her
> >        chosen profession.
> 
> Never is a strong word, but I strongly believe the game should provide the
> protection, not the player herself.
> 

I tend to agree with you, Marian...however, I believe that if Buffy the
Tailor does not want to involve actions or skills notably outside her
chosen profession, she needs to pay someone/something to perform those
actions.  Whether this be a guard (PC or NPC), a cook, a needle-maker, a
carpenter, etc., etc., the fact is that you can either do it yourself or
hire someone else to do it.  Now, there may be someone willing to barter
services (you make and mend clothes for the King, and he feeds, shelters,
and protects you) or perform a little bit of "charitable work" (a
wandering Knight or cleric protecting the poor defenseless tailor), but
you are still paying something, whether it is in the form of cash or
something less substantial.

So, in conclusion, I agree that the game should provide a mechanism
whereby people who cannot protect themselves or perform certain actions
for themselves can purchase the services of someone (whether PC or NPC) to
perform those distasteful tasks.

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I'm not insane, I'm just irrational.

-Bob