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

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  9 Jul 98, Matthew R. Sheahan wrote:
> 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.

A player run police force.  Many of the systems of seen in this vein 
are dependent on the game system automatically "marking" certain 
characters as killers.  And fail when the mayor or otherwise honest 
citizen is "marked" by the system as a killer.  There is only a 
built-in automated "direction".   Obstentiously this is to curtail 
potential abuse. ;)

I have some ideas along this line.  One is to consider such 
sub-systems to be very similar to traditional objects (or artifacts) 
that are aquired by characters in non-traditional ways.
For instance, the mayorship of the Shire is a virtual 
object/component that has various powers.  Perhaps it contains 
mechanisms to enable conscription, to set local tax rates, to 
initiate festivals and feasts, and to "mark" characters as outlaws 
(and set the mode of shire guards to kill on sight or apprehend).  
Aquiring such an object or token might be conducted through annual 
Shire voting mechanism, or a reputation system, etc.  Perhaps the 
call for votes is intiated by various council objects which have 
their own mechanisms of aquisition.

> 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.

I think the Magic analogy is excellent.  Instead of players aquiring 
these tokens of power through random draw, they are aquired 
primarily through social interaction.

Then again it's my opinion that all social interaction is politics 
anyway.

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