[MUD-Dev] Re: Family, was characters per account

[J C Lawrence]

On Thu, 13 Apr 2000 12:53:35 -0400 (EDT) 
Paul Schwanz <- Enterprise Services <Paul.Schwanz at east.sun.com>> wrote:

> Raph replied:
>> Actually, in UO's case it was because a) we were concerned about
>> the vast potential for nastiness (children-killing, pedophilia,
>> etc), and b) we didn't actually finish the artwork. The former is
>> worth discussing on the list, I think: the viability of children,
>> and children-specific environments, particularly in comemrcial
>> ventures.

> Isn't this mixing apples and oranges?  I think Daniel was talking
> about children as _characters_ in the game and not children as
> _players_ of the game.

Which effectively makes them pets with a minor host of other
different problems (if generally of less social/legal concern).

> I don't know the answers to these questions, but I thought this
> might be interesting to explore.  I think the important thing is
> to have appropriate in-game consequences for those characters who
> practice evil of any sort, but I can see how giving any kind of
> opportunity for gamers to role-play a pedophile is very
> disturbing.  

A problem is that it is impossible to guarantee intent on the part
of a player.  Are they roleplaying?  Are they rollplaying?  Are they
just being who they really are IRL?  Are they acting out some
fantasy?  A nightmare?  Working out aggressions from the fight with
the wife last night?  The beating from the older sibling or school
bully?

Or are they hunting for their next RL victim?

Tough call.  Tougher call given US liability precedents.

> Of course, there really isn't much to prevent them from
> role-playing a pedophile in current MMORPGs, they just have no way
> of acting it out in public.  

It could be done, much as the Bungle affair was, with a few custom
bits of scriptfoo, Tiny-* style emotes, etc.  Given that there's
nothing to prevent it, I'd be surprised if it hadn't heppened in
some form yet.

> Administratively speaking, I would think that this type of
> behavior could be handled just like you currently handle lewd or
> offensive behavior on the part of gamers (such as attempting to
> act out a rape, etc.).

Is MUDSex still MUDSex when 20 or more people are involved?  At what
point does something occuring in "a private location" become a
public offense?  

--
J C Lawrence                                 Home: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                              Other: coder at kanga.nu
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--


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