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

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 09:16 PM 7/26/98 -0500, I personally witnessed Damion Schubert jumping
up to say:
>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. 
>
>My experience is that this wouldn't work very well - particularly
>in a commercial environment, where most of my experience comes
>from.  

I was thinking that it would work exceptionally well in a commercial
environment. Why exactly do you feel that making something inherently
undesirable is less effective commercially than on a 'free' MUD? Is there
something I'm missing here?

>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.

Making it cost stats is pretty nonsensical; jailtime is perfectly
reasonable, but not much fun at all. Fining the player seems like the only
reasonable measure I can take. 

System specifics: When fines reach a certain amount you're considered
persona non grata until they get paid. That means no official purchases, so
if you don't already have it... you ain't getting it. Until you pay your
fines. Fuel refinery is, of course, beyond the capacity of players. So when
your fuel tank gets toward E... you BETTER have your fines paid down to a
reasonable level, or you're done. That's the most common need which players
can't fill for themselves; there are an awful lot of others. If you owe too
many fines, you're basically screwed. 

>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.  

There are ways to do this. Specifically provided for and expected. There
are other ways, too, which someone else is destined to discover... I'm sure
I haven't found them ALL.

>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?  

This should be accounted for, along with your other examples, by the
designer. If it isn't, the design is flawed. Different games demand
different solutions. In this system, combat is resolved instantaneously, so
interfering with it is impossible. Blocking someone in... well, in a stable
Euclidean environment, good idea; but this environment isn't stable or
Euclidean by any stretch of the imagination. You're also assuming that I
can "push" someone; this isn't the case. I can "pull" someone, but... well,
you figure it out. ;)