[MUD-Dev] an essay on PK

[Charles Hughes]

On Sunday, September 26, 1999 4:48 PM, Chris Turner 
[SMTP:christ at rd.bbc.co.uk] wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Sep 1999, Adam Wiggins wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 24 Sep 1999, Chris Turner wrote:
> > > Now what would really be nice, is if the guards dealt with the 
problem
> > > before it happened.  If they saw someone walking about with a weapon
> > > in their hand, they could conviscate the weapon or arrest them.  In
> > > essence - what would really help is IC laws inside the town which
> > > promote a peaceful existance.
> >
> > Some pay mud - I want to say Diku II - had this.  As I recall it 
annoyed
> > players greatly, simply because the mechanisms for drawing and
> > sheathing your weapon were not very good; it was very easy to go
> > walking into town without remembering to put away your weapon
> > first (especially if you're used to the 'always wielded' method on most 
> > combat-oriented muds), resulting in your character instantly being
> > thrown in jail.
>
> Well obviously you'd not make it instant - the guards could ask you to
> put the weapon away before trying more hard line tactics.  You could even
> go as far as making it auto-sheath the weapon when entering a town
> where the player/character knows this law to be in effect.  (Note I 
don't,
> upon thinking about it, like the last idea I just said - but it's still 
an
> idea).

Along the lines of going too far...I played on a Diku where the guards
did attempt to arrest you for wielding, but you had to follow the guard
in order to be arrested.  If you didn't follow the guard, he would attack
and kill you. Given the vagaries of the Internet, it wasn't long before
I died to netlag.  Might I suggest a friendlier type of guard that simply
knocks you unconscious (and drags you off to jail), or prevents you
from leaving his immediate vicinity?

> > Worked out pretty nicely, and was fairly transparent.  Of course, it
> > was also transparent enough that a player could snap out their sword,
> > slice the tailor's throat, and sheathe it before anyone knew what
> > happened (if they were quick enough).
>
> Hence the notion of the peaceknot - tying the sword in the sheath makes
> it impossible to whip out at moments notice.  Another feature I can think 
of
> is blood.  Surely if you've just slashed someones' throat you're gonna be
> covered in the stuff along with your blade.  I doubt many guards would
> think twice before throwing someone into the local jail when walking 
about
> with a blood covered sword and covered in the stuff themselves.

Excellent idea but you'd need to extend that to include commands to
clean up after a battle, which in turn avoids the problem with the guard.
(You need the clean up commands to avoid arrest upon walking into
town after successfully repelling the loathsome Orcs that were attacking
the town.)

On a final note - A small dagger, a good thief, a slight gurgle...no muss,
no fuss, no evidence.




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