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

[Ryan Prince]

apocalypse at pipeline.com wrote:
> 
> Im going to have to interject that I think this issue has been taken
> magna extremis. I cant believe that even a moderate size of the
> mud population is going to have any amount of psychological
> damage because they were "pk'ed" or they lost their "great
> shiny ring of happiness" in an online game.
>

I hate to tell you this, but there are a ton of people who really do get
seriously depressed when they loose at a game. Plus, no one likes to be forced
into inferiority by bullys on MUDs, it hurts. Trust me. The people that are
esspecially vulnerable to this depression are the bullies themselves, btw, as
the only reason most bully people is because the have a need to feel "bigger"
than evveryone else.

> Substance at last. Does anyone actually perform a psyche eval. on the
> oncoming "demon class" cruisers' crew in subspace before it blows
> your tiny ship to little bits? The topic of a model for better mud
> administration warrants study, wether it be hard-coded procedures and
> player commands, or human intervention.
> 

You, unfortunately, missed the entire point of the Marion's Tailor problem.
There are some people out there that, for some reason, do not
wish to PK. They wish to play a tailor, not a mass murderer. So "becoming
bigger" as Ralph so bluntley suggested is not an option. These people don't want
to kill, and they gain no joy from doom-style muding where the goal is to kill
everything in the whole entire world! (Mwuhaha). I run a Circle(Diku) based MUD.
It has an EXCELENT fight system. Probably because that's the only thing it was
inteded to do. I have spent much time adding features that I feel will enhance
role-playing and forward the ability to "suspend belief" of the natural world
and have a happy day in mine. You will never find an evil mass-murdering PKer on
my MUD. Why? Because on my MUD there are soldiers that hunt down murderers, like
the police irl. Of course, I didn't want to prevent people from making the
occasional mob-style hit ( that meant not to arrouse suspicion of the police )
so if you kill the people in certain areas the soldiers do nothing. I simply
made it non-adventageous to go around killing players. It's no longer a fast way
to power ( there are a lot of people that will respect and awe you for having
the most PKs. Personally I view these people as disgusting sycophants and I am
amazed that the PKer doesn't kill these morons. *sigh* I guess every
megalomaniacle dictator must have his brainless lackeys. I dislike that cause it
gets to close to power rangers, the antithisis of all of my attempts at being
interesting on the MUD.)  

> set_bit(player,no_pk); /*This player does not wish to attack, or be attacked
> by humans*/
> It could also encompas attacks by charmed mobs, and "flame channels"
> 

*puts face in hands and shakes head in disgust* You missed the point entirely!

> Uh, Jefferey Dahmer? Charles Manson?  They didnt kill everyone they met,

*sarcasm mode*YOU"VE ACTUALLY MET JEFFERY DAHMER? WOW.*sarcasm mode off*
No you haven't. Neither has anyone else on this list. Sociopaths are not
a common thing, maybe one for every three thousand people in this country, and
most sociopaths aren't NEARLY as bad a Jeffery Dahmer. So get over yourself.
Please.

> 
> Id say thats definately not on the mark. Even on the HUGE muds (150+ players
> at all times), they dont have this mass hysteria of killings, and by
> definition, as the populace increases so will the potential. All the player
> has to do (if its coded) is request that non-pk flag.

Uhm ... Have you ever played Medevia?

> Again, just because they PK in no way means they are not social.

insane voice: I kilLL fOR FUN! hHeeHEheh. I l like BLOOooD!!!

Uhm .. on every MUD I have ever played, THIS is your average PKiller. I have
played TONS of MUDS and met THOUSANDS of people, yet this simple stereotype
holds through for me. Why? Becasue theaverage PKiller is a 13-15 year old boy
with severe mental problems and hormonal imbalances. That, my friends, means the
majority of people who bought such titles as "Quake2" or "Blood" and DIDN'T get
boared. No, because they PK doesn't mean that they are anti-social. It's the
other way around. When someone is anti-social they PK.

> Hungry wolves eat their own kind...does that mean they arent

Actually, only wolves that are starving and have been driven effectively insane
by hunger and the environment have ever eaten other wolves. Wolves that are
hungry on a normal basis seek out a pack and developsocial connections with a
good hunter. They then assist with that hunter to get food.

> Once the computer is shut off, and tommy goes
> back to school, and gets beat up by those nasty boys in gym, he
> is surely not going to do a psyche eval on them. He will probably
> go home, and vent his angst/tension on some alien invading race
> in one of his many escapes from reality (games).
> 

Yes, he won't do a psyche eval. He will be driven partially insane and become a
Pkiller on your local MUD. Because at this point he himself has serious mental
problems, and wishes to take out his incapability on others, to "make himself
bigger."

> 
> I thought the point of a game, was kind of like therapy. To escape,
> and deal with outside issues, by doing things that you cant do
> in everyday life. What about the healing process of releasing angst
> through gameplay? Humans have done that since the dawn of time.
> 

Little Tommy goes to school. Tommy gets beaten up regularly. He goes home and
logs on to his favorite PKMUD. He gets killed there regularly. He then goes out
and bakes his next door neighbor for lunch.

There has to be a little peace somewhere! Give PK a rest! It doesn't do any
good! Talk out your problems with your friends!

--
- Jynx Ryn
- The Complex Man with the Simple Signature
- Home Page: http://jynxryn.home.ml.org/