[MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"

[J C Lawrence]

On 10 Nov 1999 11:02:06 +0100 
Miroslav Silovic <silovic at zesoi.fer.hr> wrote:

> "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at origin.ea.com> writes:
>> Even those people can and do serve as a catalyst in community
>> development.  Absolutely, ban em, toast 'em, siteban 'em. But
>> also observe the impact they have. cf "My Tiny Life" by Julian
>> Dibbell, or just the "Rape in Cyberspace" article.

> Well... I wouldn't use term 'development' to things those people
> catalyse. Same way I wouldn't use term 'development' to time and
> effort you have to waste to secure your site from script kiddies.

Umm, no.

Script kiddies are the bane of SysAdmins (Kanga.Nu is regularly
attacked especially now that I'm running x86 instead of Alpha).
However they also enforce and prompt the never ending development of
detection, prevention and security techniques. Script Kiddies in
game worlds are the bane of players.  They also prompt the formation
of player societies, cultures, mores, tacit or explicit legal
systems, justice systems, group dyamics, and societal conflict.

Both initial causes are arguably negative.  Both subsequent effects
are arguably benficial in both cases.  More amusingly the effects in
the first case have nothing to do with the job in hand there.  In
the second case, the effects have everything to do with the social
and cultural systems in a game world -- which is a major if not
primary function of a MUD.

--
J C Lawrence                              Internet: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                            Internet: coder at kanga.nu
...Honorary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...


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