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

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dr. Cat [SMTP:cat at bga.com]
> Sent:	Monday, July 13, 1998 12:02 PM
> To:	mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject:	[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and  social method (Was: Re:
> Wi
> 
> > 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. 
> 
I quite agree. :) For that matter, on a mud mostly populated by folks
older than that , she will (Legend is such a mud, and this happens
there).

>  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. 
> 
I assume this is before the offender crosses the line into "harassment."
Yep, it can and will lead to tonsof "litigation"--which is essentially
calling a game admin.

[snip]
> 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." 
> 
I'd agree with this approach, but there's the issue of time and
manpower. How long does it take to talk the person out of quitting over
this incident, how much effort should you expend on it, how much time
will it take, how much bad PR will be generated when the person turns
around and reports that "Bubba was a jerk to me and ruined the game for
me and the admins did NOTHING!" to every new player... how much manpower
and therefore how large are your costs using this solution?

>  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)
> 
Of course. :) On Legend, in a totally futile endeavor, we actually make
a new character page through the ten screens or whatever of the code of
conduct. It does no good whatsoever, makes the process more tedious, and
nobody reads it. But at least we can say that they must have read it to
get in, and thus got their first warning and can now be summarily
disposed of when they break the rules. :)

-Raph