[MUD-Dev] Confiscating items (Interesting dilemma)

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

"Peck, Matthew x96724c1" wrote:
> Another problem that I have is then confiscating these items.  Is there any
> way to do it nicely?

I guess pumping up all the other items are ruled out :-).  You didn't
specify your platform. Custom, LP, DIKU?

Anyway, I think Farmer of Habitat fame suggests that you should do it
_within_ the perceived rules of the world. If it is just one item, then you
could get it by using a player character and buy it from the owner for a
large sum of money or trade it for several less critical items. If there are
several items, then I guess you could install a random number of remaining
charges/time without telling the players.  Another option could be to code
up an in-game incident/catastrophe with enough entertainmentvalue to make up
for the loss of the item. I'm not saying the last option is likely to work
out though. :*) That's all I can think of really...

Your problem is a bit worse, I guess, because you can't trust imms to not
tell players about what happens behind the scene... *shrug*  Still,
replacing is probably better than taking away. You could replace it with
something that has very high value, but limited life span. Thus you will
have to live with a more unbalanced mud for a couple of weeks, but have
slightly less pissed off players. Or rather, piss off those that doesn't get
the advantage while the ones that get it are slightly less pissed off.

Another option is to ask players to return such equipment within two weeks
(fixed date) explaining it has made the game unbalanced. Give them some kind
of title or special membership in return for the favor.  Something with
honour which is visible to other players.  No threats whatsoever. Then
forcefully take away the items from those that doesn't obey.  A bit nasty...

*shrug*
Winning confidence isn't easy.  Maybe a combination of all the above? ;)

--
Ola Fosheim Groestad,Norway



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