[MUD-Dev] Trouble Makers or Regular Citizens

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Thu, 6 Apr 2000, Jon Lambert wrote:

> Matthew Mihaly wrote:
> >
> >From my point of view, it has nothing to do with ooc issues, but simply
> >that I, as the admin, am not going to stand for my world being used as a
> >place to spout off views I find noxious in the extreme.
> >
> 
> Do you tolerate Bubba the Troll logging in and taunting Elves as "pointy-eared 
> treehuggers"?  Or is IC racism OK?

Oh sure, I couldn't care less about this. People are always tossing racial
insults around: You swamp-dwelling slimey Grook, or, rat-eating Rajamala.
This doesn't ACTUALLY offend any of my customers to any significant
degree, and it doesn't offend me at all.

 
> I would suspect that most administrators don't tolerate speech they find 
> to be noxious.  Yet those same administrators will allow the above expression 
> in IC speech.  And yet IC speech which shares a set of contemporary _hot_ 
> words might well trigger an administrator to act.  For instance, Bubba the Troll 
> would be on a slippery slope if he referred to Drow elves as "trident-chucking 
> darkies" or the Priests of Bast as "the boy buggerers of Bast". 

It's a judgement call. The US Supreme Court uses the same standard for
obscenity incidentally. They dno't try to define it, but feel that a "I
know it when I see it" approach is fine. In a relatively small game such
as Achaea (maxing at about 135 players simultaneously right now), it's not
hard to pull this off.

 
> I think the issue is definately an OOC issue (the administrators beliefs being
> properly OOC).  And these are expressed in both the published game rules and 
> a mud's body of common law that comes about through administrator action, or 
> by rumor and pronouncement.

Yeah, I definitely agree. Ooc issue.

 
> In the past, I have proposed the idea where administrators could automatically
> censor and filter player speech by removing or replacing keywords making such 
> communications difficult and less offensive simply by virtue of requiring players to
> express it in synonyms, symbols and phonetics (i.e. "f**K you", "u mf", or "mucker")   
> Or as an option, players could choose to set up their own filters as well as
> gags.  Now besides the issue that there are an infinite number of ways players 
> can subvert such silly code, there was a sizable share who felt this was an 
> incredibly evil idea since muds are "all about creativity and free speech". 
> I would maintain most of the major issues of mud administration (and as 
> expressed in this thread) really revolve around, "How can we censor xxx"?

Yeah, I am not a big fan of filters and such just because it turns into a
battle to try and outwit the filters.

 
> >I wouldn't. There's nothing out of role about homophobia, racism, or
> >anti-homophobia, or anti-racism. We have a number of homosexual characters
> >in Achaea, for instance, and have even dealt with the issue of same-sex
> >marriages.
> 
> 
> Are you saying you don't allow players to express views on a public channel 
> that would be derisive of those marriages, yet do allow players to express 
> affirmative views of those marriages on a public channel?  And are you saying 
> you allow both views in private, in-game or otherwise in-role communications?  
> How exactly do you deal with the issue?

Oh, they could be derisive of the marriages. I just won't stand for things
like (pardon the following): F*CKING FAGGOTS! If players can dress up some
restrained criticism of gay players into a relatively role-related issue
(perhaps that player's God does not like homosexuality) then I don't mind.
I tend to get quite down on the teenage idiots who aren't mature enough to
dress it up though.

 
> My administrative view on the two issues you brought up, and a third which I'll 
> bring up now, 'sexism' would be to allow players free reign in expressing any 
> views on those areas in public, private, OOC and IC.  My primary interest 
> in censorship is in the area of IC behavior and speech that does not fit within the 
> spirit and theme of the game.  

Yeah, I mainly agree with you.




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