[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, Ian Macintosh wrote:

> 
> Matthew Mihaly wrote on Wednesday, 23 August 2000 11:10
> 
> > Yes, I do. I'm quite certain of the fact that I have a better
> > understanding of community in the virtual world than every major religious
> > scholar in history. The same goes for most of this list. Anyway, I won't
> > be so petty as to bar people with testicular cancer from paradise.
> >
> > --matt
> > "He that is wounded in the testicles, or have his penis cut off, shall not
> > enter into the congregation of the Lord." Deuteronomy 23:1
> 
> Hehe..  The text you quote is referring to a sanitary and purity aspect
> relating to entering the Temple.  It does not refer to 'paradise'.  The
> proper translation is 'damage to the testicles by crushing' which causes,
> especially in those days, unsanitary side effects.  The effects of
> dismemberment causes just slightly less sanitary problems.  In these days,
> both can be controlled.  3500+ years ago..  Maybe just 100 years ago, I'd
> call it good advice :-)

Chuckle. Well, in the great tradition of making religious stuff up, I will
simply ignore the light of your knowledge and continue to blindly trust in
my admittedly flawed interpretation of that quote. It's much more amusing
my way.

 
> However.  Have you considered the applicable sections of the 10
> commandments.  You can ignore the first 4 for virtual worlds, as they are
> God <-> man relationship.  The 5th refers to parents which isn't VR
> applicable either, and the 7th to adultery which has only vague VR
> application.  But the breaking of the 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th are what this
> whole thread is about.

Hey, why is adultery not an issue? People get married in many games.... If
hurting someone else by 'murdering' them is wrong, why is hurting someone
else by cheating on them any less wrong? (in the context of the Ten
Commandments as applied to VR worlds. Adultery is as serious as murder I
would say, in terms of the Ten Commandments.)

 
> 6.  You shall not murder.
> 
> 8.  You shall not steal.
> 
> 9.  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
> 
> 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.  You shall not covet your
> neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or
> anything that belongs to your neighbor.

See, now, I LIKE to see some murdering and stealing in my world. It makes
it more exciting. If the players got togther and all declared peace, I'd
have to create some sneaky characters to sabotage their efforts.

I think one of the differences here is that I don't do games focussed on
player vs. NPC. I'm really only interested in games that focus on Player
vs. Player conflict, in all its forms (competitive politics, economics,
combat, war, etc), and if all the players get lovey-dovey with each other,
life would be very boring. 


 
> I'd stick that 10 at the front, because it causes 8, which often leads to 6,
> and when Raph and his buddies come investigate the ruckus, leads to large
> amounts of number 9.



> 
> Muhahaha...
> 
> I think they pretty much got a handle on the what ails the human race, VR
> and RL, quite some time ago <grin>

Well, I'd disagree, particularly as many muds actually implement classes
specifically designed to violate the Thou shalt not steal commandment (ie
thieves guilds), and people seem to quite like 'em.

--matt
"He that is wounded in the testicles, or have his penis cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the Lord." Deuteronomy 23:1




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