[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths

[ApplePiMan at aol.com]

At 10/2/98 2:29 PM Benjamin D. Wiechel (strycher at toast.net) altered the 
fabric of reality by uttering:

>I suppose within this grouping of people, there are the people like me that
>perhaps enjoy role playing a character that is truly mean and vile, just to
>be a bit different than their reality.  I personally enjoy the opportunity 
>to act out the life of the defined "sociopath", as it creates an 
>interesting flavor to the mud, and it also causes a reaction in people.  
>Each person reacts differently to my behaviour, and it is interesting to 
>see each of them.  There's also the side effect that one can give with one 
>hand and take with the other -- this time I might give you equipment, next 
>time I might take your life.

Ah, but there's a big difference in playing the role of a sociopath and 
what the people this thread is dealing with are doing. By definition, 
role-playing the sociopath places you in the position of having to be 
aware of the virtual society and how you fit (or don't fit) in with it.

Or let me put it this way: I tend to be a consummate role-player, but if 
I were role-playing a sociopath I would carefully play the role so that I 
would be *seen* as a sociopath without damaging my fellow players in 
quite the same way, or certainly to the same degree, a 'real' sociopath 
would -- at least without a player's OOC consent beforehand to help me 
play out a scene that would further my reputation as a sociopath.

The very fact that I *have* to be aware of other characters' reactions to 
properly role-play a sociopath makes me more sensitive to those players 
than those who aren't playing a role but acting sociopathically.

And, yes, I would contend anyone who isn't role-playing a sociopath 
pretty closely to the way I outlined above isn't role-playing a sociopath 
but acting sociopathically.

-Rick.


---------------------------------------------------------
Rick Buck, President and CEO  <mailto:rlb at big-i.com>
Beyond Infinity Games, Inc.
See you in The Metaverse! <http://www.big-i.com>