[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[Chris Gray]

[Joel Kelso:]

 >> >> If you are coding a system whereby nobody can strike another person
 >> >> *even in justifiable circumstances*, what sort of society have you made,
 >> >> and what sort of ruler are you?
 >
 >Perhaps we should distinguish between "creators" and "rulers" here.  As
 >acreator, provided no-one is forced to dwell in your particular universe,
 >what's
 >wrong with creating any damn universe you feel like ?  A universe where no
 >one can strike another person is a perfectly legitimate one to try out.  It
 >might
 >be rather boring, and its not very much like the real world, but some people
 >are dissatisfied with this one anyway.

I'm not really following up here, but more following on. The above
interchanged triggered the following question in my mind: How dependent
are the combat freaks and the combat critics on the actual words and
forms used during "combat"? That's pretty unclear, so I'll describe a
bit of an alternative (I would guess that some RP system has tried this
at some time). Get rid of all of the truly nasty words in the system,
and replace them with more humorous ones. Remember the bladders-on-sticks
that the Lilliputians used on each other? Could combat work if done in
a system like that? There would be "weapons", complete with statistics;
there could be "armour" (how about layers and layers of frilly shirts,
funny hats, etc.), there could be "magical protections" (you are now
immune from skillfull boppers being able to bop off one of your silly
hats), etc. Replace death with "so completely embarassed that you have
to retreat to your room for a day". Make insulting be a major skill,
along with the witty reply, the double-bop and the insane laugh.

Critics would have to stretch things a bit to call this violence. Would
the action be enough for the combat folks? Even all the numbers could be
setup to work the same. All that has really changed is the words.
Someone could do this to a Diku without having to change much code - just
change a lot of strings and object descriptions.

My guess on this is that the combat folks wouldn't touch the game with
a ten foot pole, unless they were coerced and enticed in some way, but
having gotten into it, might find it more fun, since what they are
doing is now somehow acceptible. If not, then I'd have to conclude that
one of the reasons they wouldn't like this but do like regular combat
is that they *want* to be doing socially unacceptible things, and
they *want* all of the physical damage and agony that they cause (at
least virtually). If so, is that inherent, or are we stuck in a vicious
circle, where they combat freaks want blood and gore, so they get it
from the new games, and hence they want more of it?

[I played "Unreal" for the first time yesterday, and must admit to
some visceral satisfaction from seeing my opponent (a friend in another
city) fly apart into hunks of bloody meat. Later, three of us played
"Monkey Island" (first time for all of us), and were quite entertained
by its non-violence and quirky humor.]

--
Chris Gray     cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA