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

[Matthew R. Sheahan]

Jon A. Lambert propagated a meme to the effect of:
> I assume that self-governance refers to extending the capabilities of 
> Player governance.  It's the nature of these "posited" mechanisms 
> that interests me.  :)

once upon a time, i had planned out a system of "player government"
which centered around mayoral and law-enforcement figures for the
various settlements which function as player homelands, and so on.
very PC, with elections and so forth, and the only real driving force
behind it being control of PK.

i have lately decided that this is entirely too limited in scope, and
what i now have planned is something based on adding on an entire
layer of territorial rulership to the game.  if you're going to have
"player government" in a medieval fantasy setting, to hell with small
time mayors and sheriffs, let's have some noble dukes, witch-kings, and
barbarian warlords.  put some tools in their hands for performing law
enforcement and make sure people know that overthrow is an option if
they don't use them.

of course, this is all just driving toward what i really want from
life, which is to be able to play persistent multiplayer Master of
Magic on both strategic and tactical scales.

as an aside, i've also noticed that an incredibly high percentage of
the ongoing PK problems i see can be alleviated by remorselessly and
ruthlessly eliminating a few key players -- at least, on a MUD which
isn't completely dominated by PK twinks.  these are the people who
never quite seem to go dramatically overboard but somehow manage to
constantly be in "questionable" situations.  just saying "buh-bye"
to these requires a certain quantity of administrative balls, and may
not be possible in a commercial environment or where there are large
numbers of these people, but it sure worked for me.

								chiaroscuro