[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wi

[Michael.Willey at abnamro.com]

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     Subject:  [MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and  social method (Was: Re: Wi...
     Author:   mud-dev at kanga.nu (cat at bga.com (cat))
     Date:          7/9/98 5:28 PM

>Let's go back for a moment to this "but what if it's necessary
>to strike someone" question.  Imagine we believe that it is
>indeed necessary sometimes, in any online environment that is to
>achieve sufficient richness, culture, size, depth, complexity,
>self-governance, whatever.  Now let's say we go to try and apply
>this to America Online.
>
>First hurdle would be getting them to accept the axiom from here
>on mud-dev that the customers should be doing most of the work of
>keeping the peace, rather than the staff.  Most of the AOL
>customers are mostly used to paying for a service, and having the
>provider make sure it's worth buying - like people are with most
>goods and services.  But let's say you make an impassioned speech
>about the novel nature of online communities, how they're
>different from other services you might buy, fit into the future
>of mankind, blah blah blah, and you convince 'em.  Ok.
>
>So let's say this guy says "Allright, you convinced me.  What
>shall I do, for the good of us all?  Make more effort to report
>troublemakers to the AOL staff?  Send private messages to my
>fellow users suggesting that we all stop replying to the posts by
>that person?  Put on ignore filters when they try to chat with me?
>Something else?  What?"
>
>So we say to them, "No, actually, we have come to realize that it
>is necessary for you to engage in a game of make-believe with
>this troublemaker, where you pretend to strike him with a fist,
>sword, mace, or magical ball of flame, and he pretends to be hurt
>or even  killed by it.  This is NECESSARY in order to keep the
>peace on America Online.  If we don't keep the peace in that
>particular way, we've realized that we will be forever lacking
>in true depth and cultural sophistication as a meaningful online
>community."
>
>"But...  But...  I just come here for a photography SIG!  I don't
>even like books or movies about all that knights and wizards and
>dragons stuff, let alone playing this weird game you say I have
>to play with this guy I don't like.  Are you sure there isn't
>ANYTHING else I could do instead?"
>
>"Oh, no problem!  If you don't like knights and wizards, go meet
>him in the new Futurama section and you can nail him with
>blasters and lightsabers instead!  Or if you're not into wild
>flights of fancy, more a down to earth, modern day, realistic
>guy - go over to Sim-Iraq, and you can attack him with guns,
>grenades, Scud Missiles, and germ warfare.  THAT will teach him
>to not go around posting obscene pictures in your photography
>SIG!"
>
>I mean, really - isn't anyone else capable of seeing it as
>extremist and ludicrous to think of striking people as universally
>necessary, rather than just necessary in certain specific types of
>environments?  Besides Marian, that is.

I understand your point.  In fact, I think it even applies to those
specific environments where combat is expected.  If your players
have come to your mud expecting to enjoy a game, but another user
is on who insists on disrupting the game for them, why are they
expected to deal with this person as though they were still
playing the game?  When the problem has gone beyond in-game bounds,
can in-game tools be expected to provide a solution?

There is undoubtably a difference between in-game conflict and
out-of-game conflict, even if the two can use the same tools to
manifest.  Taunts, threats, heated exchanges or even player-vs-
player combat can be a valuable part of an enjoyable experience,
or it can be used as a tool for harrasment.  Ultimately, every
problem player's actions boil down to harrasment of one form or
another, since that's the maximum extent of the abusive contact
possible in this medium.  If we look at the problem from that
angle, instead of trying to define the behavior as robbery, rape
or murder, then our solutions will change as well.