[MUD-Dev] Re: [DESIGN] To kill or not to kill? (non-violent conflict)

[The Wildman]

On Sun, 4 Oct 1998, Marc Hernandez wrote:

> On Sun, 4 Oct 1998, Robert Woods wrote:

[I'm replying to both, sort of]
> 	Actually the above is a very good _The Prisoner_ mud situation.
> Playing such a mud I would assume things like that would happen (in fact I
> think they did... I need to watch the prisoner marathon again :-) ).  The
> whole point of it was about trust, truth and paranoya.  

That took elements from a few different episodes. The lobotomy (Number 6 was
"lobotomized" via lazer, or so he was told), the revival after death (Number
2 died at the end of the second to last episode, and revived at the
beginning of the last), and - of course - Rover and the watching statues.

> 	I disagree with forcing things on the player at the end.  FOr some
> reason the people in charge did want the prisoners to be fully aware of
> everything.  Breaking a person that isnt fully aware is not an
> accomplishment (I assume... having never done it.  You could just kill
> them).  Take 1984 (might make another great mud... hmmm).  They had to
> break them (then they killed them), but they were completely aware of
> their failure.  

It depended on how valuable the prisoner was. While PCs should be considered
too valuable to harm, they shouldn't feel secure in this knowledge either.
Also, somebody who is dangerous would be dealt with swiftly, possibly even
put to death.
In this case, the player would have full control once the drugs wore off (it
wasn't a real lobotomy) but would know that next time it might be real.

> 	 SO in some senses player killing could be curbed by situations in
> the environment, yet still be allowed.  

It must be noted that killing _anyone_ would result in similar consequences.
In the scenario I posted, Bob was an NPC. ;)
What I'm concerned with is the artificiality of disallowing PK. I'm thinking
of a game where violence is severely punished. Killing someone is the
ultimate "Unmutual" act, and a far cry from just refusing to wear your
number.

The Wildman
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