[MUD-Dev] Game construction and a big mistake

[Marc Bowden]

On Wed, 09 Jun 1999 17:16:14 -0700 caliban at darklock.com (Caliban
Tiresias Darklock) wrote:

  [ Detail of experiment deleted. ]

>
>All in all, it offended a whole bunch of people, and the demographic
>was
>frightening: to the last man, all of the players were rapidly
>lowering the
>approval rating of EVERY color by consistently selecting the most
>vicious
>option available to them. In no time at all, we had all out racial
>hatred
>of the same general level as one would expect if there were eight
>political
>parties modeled on Hitler's Nazi regime. People are evidently
>homicidal by
>nature, and all too willing to treat anyone and everyone else like
>crap
>given even the slightest encouragement.
>

  It gives them a feeling of power and self-esteem to be able to
control somoene else's experiences. Anyone who's run a MUD open to
the public is probably already putting names to the various types
of antisocial behavior a certain percentage of the player population
is disposed to in the name of "fun" that echo your experience.
Called on it, they wrap themselves in the rhetoric of "it's just a
game" and sneer all-powerfully at the wronged. Until something they
value is taken away or maligned. Then watch how unfair life is to the
poor, mistreated innocents.

  A subset of "the kids" will always find ways to ruin the experience
for the rest of the population. That's why they come on. Their limited
understanding and experience don't give them any other enjoyable
pastime
in the virtual world. And their size or social controls they can't
duck
out of in the real world.



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