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

[Dr. Cat]

> What about indirect means, though? Here's something to consider... say
> Bubba who is now squelched wanders around telling everyone in the mud
> that Buffy is a <insert derogatory term of choice>. Word gets back to
> Buffy. Is this something Buffy should be upset about? Is it something
> Buffy should have recourse for?Is it something an admin needs to step in
> for, or is the proper answer to have everyone in the game squelch Bubba
> too?

Whether Buffy should or should not get upset, practically speaking I can 
tell you that if you run a mud mostly populated by people in the 10-21 
age range, often she will.  Giving any "official" form of recourse to the 
offense of lying about someone or the offense of insulting someone will 
lead to a hugely litigious society, in my opinion.  (Of course if someone 
has the design goal of creating a hugely litigious society, they should 
probably feel free!)  Buffy does have the same recourse most people have 
in real life about such problems - as you so often here in discussions of 
things like the ACLU defending the Illinois Nazis right to hold a march 
or a public speech or whatever: "The antidote to free speech is more free 
speech".  One place where the admins could step in is simply to inform 
users of this fact when they have a complaint.  I've lost track of the 
number of times I've told some player "If someone is lying about you or 
smearing your reptutation, go tell everyone the truth about it.  If you 
lose some friends because they won't believe you and would rather believe 
the guy that's lying about you, they probably weren't very good friends 
to have anyway."  Of course this could be put in the introductory or help 
text somewhere, where all the players will avoid reading it in order to 
plunge right into the game and have as many problems as possible.  :X)

*-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------* 
   Dr. Cat / Dragon's Eye Productions       ||       Free alpha test:
*-------------------------------------------**  http://www.bga.com/furcadia
  Furcadia - a new graphic mud for PCs!     ||  Let your imagination soar!
*-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------*