[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs

[Koster]

Don't know where the subject line went on this one...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marian Griffith [mailto:gryphon at iaehv.nl]
> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 4:56 AM
> To: Mud Dev Mailing list
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs
> 
> 
> On Wed 18 Aug, Greg Miller wrote:
> 
> > "Koster, Raph" wrote:
> 
> > > I view simulated economies as anathema entirely. This is 
> also a huge shift.
> > > I am much more interested now in letting a REAL economy develop by
> > > simulating as little as possible. People will do the work 
> your code would
> > > have done--only better.
> 
> But only if you have a lot of players. For a game like UO it 
> is possible
> to have players run  the entire economy.  For smaller games  
> there is no
> choice but simulate the economy and have players fit in somehow.

Depends how small, and in what manner they affect the economy. I could see a
smaller game having a player-run economy quite easily, but you'd have to
provide enough facilities for it. What if there were no shops in the game at
all, so that players were forced to trade with one another? If the game was
compelling enough to make people stay despite that difficulty, and if there
were good facilities to allow trading when only one of the two parties was
online (like delayed auction systems, or hireling-run shops or something)
then a player-run economy could develop without too much trouble even in a
small game.

You would still need a certain critical mass, of course. But players trade
given the slightest provocation (notice the popularity of dedicated
"auction" channels).

> > This same issue arises with in-game justice systems. A lot of people
> > fail to make the distinction between a system where admins 
> attempt to
> > make the game detect good and bad behavior and punish players vs. a
> > system where players make those decisions and simply have tools with
> > which to deal with each other. [snip]

> There is a fundamental similarity as well:  both systems fail 
>  with suf-
> ficiently motivated troublemakers  (and sooner or later you 
> are going to
> encounter one of those).

ALL systems fail with sufficiently motivated troublemakers. :)

 -Raph


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