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

[S. Patrick Gallaty]

-----Original Message-----
From: Marian Griffith <gryphon at iaehv.nl>
To: Mud Dev Mailing list <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: Thursday, 09 July 1998 12:46
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun


>On Tue 07 Jul, Matt Chatterley wrote:
>

>The most immediate and potentially powerfull reward is that Bubba and that
>traveller can become friends, or at least help each other out. This is the
>one thing that killer characters do not tend to have,  an extensive social
>circle to draw on.

Agreed to some extend.  Most killers don't have 'extensive' social 
networks they have gangs.  Many are solo, especially harassers as you
know.

> If the game is such that a player cann't survive on her
>own then those social relations and friends suddenly can become important.
>I have seen the reverse happen on a mud I used to play. The mud used to be
>one where most areas required groups. Then one fatefull day the imms deci-
>ded that multiclassing was cool and set out to make it happen.  Soon every
>other character had all skills in all classes. The players loved it but it
>had a very serious side effect.  Players suddenly could travel pretty much
>everywhere on their own.  The entire social structure that had been strong
>on that mud was torn down and things that were unheard of before, like pk,
>stealing and harassment, began to appear with the influx of new players.


Ah!
Have you read my post on precisely this point?  I just posted almost the
same sentiment.  
Multi-classes and classless games are the biggest contributor IMO to
lack of online community and thus antisocial behaviour along with
anonymity and rapid character advancement.