[MUD-Dev] Containing automation?

[Marc Hernandez]

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Timothy O'Neill Dang wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, Marc Hernandez wrote:

> > 	What about Mu* games where building _is_ the game?  Is this going
> > to appeal to anyone but a small subset of people?

> I agree with Matthew, that building is only really fun if you have some
> goal towards which you're building. I disagree with him that that goal
> must be blowing other folks up.

	Perhaps.  In life creating your own goals if often an important
skill, but then that all gets a bit philosophical.  Some people easily
create their own goals.

> However, there are problems with allowing building which are largely
> solved by pitting people in direct competition of some kind. If you allow
> freeform building with flexible tools, and if you allow the things built
> to have real influence on the world, and you don't contain that influence
> regionally or some other way...

> ...people are regularly going to come up with devices which throw
> everything in the world out of whack. That's just the way innovation
> works. And if a player has just spent their last three months saving up to

	Neat.  I do have some ideas about how to contain various things.
The visible range is limited (but not too much).  Since visible range is
limited, in theory the game could be split up among servers.  If that is
difficult to do portals of some sort could be used to transfer people
among servers.
	Given that devices can be attributed to certain players I could
dole out CPU cycles per player.  If a player starts to go beyond that I
start tweaking with their stuff.  Perhaps they have to pay in Gold or
Silver bricks to maintain their energy quotient.
	Additionally expensive parts computationally cannot be arbitrarily
created.  Since they are bought from a 'store' I can have the store run
out of stock.  If in addition those same parts tend to degrade it should
setup some sort of faucet/drain situation. 

> buy the parts, and then building their really cool spaceship only to
> discover that it's completely obsolete, they might be frustrated.

	Hmm.  Obsolete would have to be defined in terms of the project I
have outlined.  

> One expects this sort of thing in a game of dircet competition, though,
> and the person who build the latest super-ship will have everyone else in
> the game trying to out-engineer them to bring it down.

> While building-social-oriented MOOs don't have the kinds of physical
> analogs (blocks, curcuits, etc.) you're speaking of, are they something
> like what you're looking for? As I gather, in these building is a big part

	Yes.  I am going to scour around for mooish mushish resources to
see what they have done.  

> of the fun, but there's not the same kind of "reality" to things you'll
> find on many MUDs. The things someone build could seriously annoy you, but
> not kill your character.

	In my system there will be no concept of death.  It simple does
not make sense.  Someone could build around you and trap your character
but there will be ways to get around that sort of stuff.  Hopefully the
'Jerk' archtype will not be attracted (course after reading the 'Rape in
Cyberspace' I am sure there will be vandals).

++
Marc Hernandez
the dream child moving through a land of wonders wild and new
in friendly chat with bird or beast- and half believe it true
						lewis carrol




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