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

[Michael.Willey at abnamro.com]

     ____________________Reply Separator____________________
     Subject:  [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths
     Author:   mud-dev at kanga.nu ("Koster, Raph" <rkoster@
     origin.ea.com>)
     Date:          9/24/98 6:50 PM

---------------------------------
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael.Willey at abnamro.com [mailto:Michael.Willey
>>@abnamro.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, September 24, 1998 2:40 PM
>> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
>> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths
>>
>>      ____________________Reply Separator____________________
>>      Subject:  [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths
>>      Author:   mud-dev at kanga.nu ("Koster, Raph" <rkoster@
>>                   origin.ea.com>)
>>      Date:          9/24/98 2:51 PM
>>
>> Truly an odd source to be paraphrasing on MUD-Dev.
>
>In retrospect, a stunningly obvious one especially
>considering I have toddlers at home, and even books on
>the subject. Thanks!

You're welcome.  The topic of teaching empathy happened
to be incredibly similar to sections of that particular
book, which my wife purchased recently in honor of my
daughter's first birthday and I've been reading.

>One of the disturbing things there is that as I understand
>it, socializing a child has always been considered a highly
>labor-intensive thing, with high "admin load" and lots of
>personal attention.  I hope that we don't face the same
>situation in mud development.

Very true.  The typical "admin load" associated with
parenting would overbear even the smallest mud, and kill
UOL outright.  Even the player to admin ratio of a typical
daycare or grade school class is completely unacceptable here.
There are a few factors that I hope would make our task easier:

 - Our "children" already have the socialization skills
they need.  We only have to train them to apply those
skills to the virtual world.

 - Not every player requires this treatment.  In some
places the "virtual sociopaths" may even be a small
minority.

 - We usually don't expect the same level of behavior
that is required in the real world.  There are generally
places and roles where some anti-social behaviors can be
channeled to increase the enjoyment of the experience.
See mentions of PC Bandit Kings or Goblin Raiders.

If nothing else, I think a mud which used methods like
these for player control would make an interesting
experiment.  Would this help curb your "virtual sociopaths"?
At what expense in time and labor?  Or would they resent
being treated like children and become even more anti-
social?  Would they simply see the system as weak and
easy to abuse?