[MUD-Dev] Declaration of the Rights of Avatars

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2000, Raph Koster wrote:

Damn it. This is much more general and harder to argue with. What the hell
fun is that? Still, I'll give it a try.

 
> Articles:
> 
> 2. Mud players are people, and therefore they have the rights of people:
> libery, property, security, and freedom from oppression.

So you aren't allowed to have the orcs invade and oppress the populace,
thus making them want to kick some orc butt? What about NPC thieves?

 
> 8. You can't punish someone in a way not in the code of conduct, and you the
> admin don't get to rewrite the code of conduct after the fact to make it
> legal. The only exception is action taken to keep the mud from going "poof."

Naah, this isn't true at all in smaller muds (like Achaea). I can see how
it's true in big muds, particularly because you need to have well-defined,
consistent rules for numerous admins to follow. We have some posted no-nos
(no spamming, no multiplaying, no gold/xp-generating scripts, etc), but I
feel free to punish people for things that I feel are obvious enough that
I don't need to state them. In fact, in a way, having some unposted rules
is a good thing for a game like ours. It helps discourage idiots, because
idiots, as I use the term, are the types that are either too stupid or too
self-centered to try and understand community norms, and follow them. They
are the types who will consistently violate community norms in ways that
are clearly counter-productive to the game, but which are hard to point to
and say "ooh ooh, illegal!" I have better things to do than spend my time
trying think of everything that could be counter-productive. (Now, if a
player whose character we judge to be good does something like this, we
just let it slide with a friendly request not to do it again).

 
> 15. No exceptions to the code of conduct--it applies to everyone.

Screw that! Bad customers have less rights than good customers. That's not
a new concept in the service industry. (Define 'good' and 'bad' however
you want. In the sense that I use it, those who pay more have the right to
break more rules before being punished, though of it's not a one-to-one
match, as there are always other factors, etc.) 

 
> 16. Don't playerwipe/data wipe unless the mud can't survive unless you do.
> If you do have to wipe someone, make it up to them somehow.

You have to warn people against this??? 
 

> 18. Players have a right to privacy. Don't snoop them or spy on them or
> rifle through their mail unless you are investigating a code of conduct
> violation.

Well. I mainly agree with this, but I will say that our Gods have the
power to watch people's input, though not if the players are in certain
'private' rooms. I allow it (rather grudgingly) because it increases the
perception of Godly omnipotence which is good for the roleplaying in our
game. Still, I do caution the Gods not to overuse this power, and I'm
getting rather queasy thinking about it being there as I write this.

--matt




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