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

[Damion Schubert]

From: Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com>
>Something I'm trying to do with my current game is to make the various
>things I want to discourage... distasteful. Not impossible, not
>administratively outlawed, but distasteful. To use a specific example, if
>you destroy the property of the provisional government you receive
>punishment in the form of monetary fines. Since players are ostensibly
>military volunteers, the destruction of a player is... destruction of
>military property, which is government property, which results in a fine. A
>pretty big and nasty fine, too. So if you get REALLY rich, yeah, you can
>kill a couple players. But you'll have to work your ass off to get enough
>money that you can even seriously consider it. And the underlying logic is
>completely understandable. There's no "artificial" restriction, and no
>admin interference. There are laws here, and if you break them, you get
>punished. That's the end of it.


My experience is that this wouldn't work very well - particularly
in a commercial environment, where most of my experience comes
from.  It's pretty easy to put any number of limits on player-killing, such
as making it cost stats, money, or jailtime.  However, this isn't usually
the behavior you want to stop.

Players invest a lot of time in trying to jump out of the channel you've
dug, which is to say, avoiding the consequences of their actions.  As an
example, what happens if you backstab someone while they are fighting
an ettin, so they are sure to die, even though the ettin lands the killing
blow?  Or what if you steal the armor or sword from their hand with your
thief skills, as the ettin strikes?

I once played a graphical mud where the objects you pushed around
depended on your strength.  No PKing was allowed, but my devious
friend found a way around it.  He lured a newbie into a room with a
large monster, and then pushed a statue in front of the only entrance,
essentially locking the newbie in.  Trust me, the newbie desperately
pleading for help as he pressed against the statue, monster hacking
at him was a more horrifying kill than if the player had hacked at him
with a sword.  And in your system, the guy would have got off without
paying a cent, I'd wager.

--damion