[MUD-Dev] Re: Marion's Tailor Problem

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Marian Griffith wrote:
> While I had sworn I would not get involved in a PK-noPK debate anymore
> I could not resist pointing out at least one omission from this paper.

You swear a lot Marian! (when it comes to PKing :)

> What I am missing in his list of  (possibly detrimental) effects of PK
> on a game is the following:
> With a player attacking you there is always the doubt that it is some-
> thing personal, or worse yet, that it is impersonal.

Yeah, I think the problem is that the author seems to assume that online
role-playing games are made for role-playing in which all motives are to be
taken as fiction.  My wild guess is that most players simply "hang out" in
some way or another.  Those who actually write in newsgroups or web boards
are probably dedicated role-players or player killers, but I'm not sure how
representative they are.

Besides, I think we assume too much about play styles.  To me there seems to
be a whole bunch of different approaches to playing a MUD if you count in
motivation, expectations etc, not mere actions... *shrug*


The obvious problem in a PK MUD is that the distinction/link between player
and game-piece is arbitrary. All boardgames are better than MUDs in that
respect.

Question: is it emotionally better to have your horse killed rather than to
be killed yourself?  Even if the consequences were the same? (loss of
resources) It is of course possible to be emotionally attached to a horse...
--
Ola