[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs

[Hess]

Dave Rickey wrote:
>Well, yeah. Grief players (which is certainly more accurate than calling
>them killers) are all about socialization. Granted, it tends not to be the
>well-liked and respected elements of socialization, but it is socialization
>nonetheless.It is *not* more accurate to equate Grief Players with Killers.
>Killers are defined by their desire to hold and excercise control over
other 
>players, Griefers are defined by their desire to *cause other people grief.
>All Griefers are Killers, but (thank god, considering their numbers) not
>all Killers are Griefers. Not even close. This "Killer == Griefer"
mentality
>has prevented us from taking advantage of the fact that Killers are the
>*only* players who will act as an organizational force purely for the sake
>of organizing.

While I find the concept interesting, I have to object and say that I think
Achievers also can serve as effective organizers.  I believe that Killers
only
organize to gain a reward, which might be defined as greater efficiency in
terms of safety or success rate.  I also believe that in many game systems
Achievers don't organize because it does not directly reward in ways that
matter to them, i.e. greater efficiency in speed of specific goal
achievement
and payoff for each goal.  Even the large systems which alledgedly promote
grouping do not have much in the way of synergetic character abilities or
increased reward per quest or kill for the number of persons involved.

Amusingingly enough, you might look at the implementation of Killer vs
Achiever in Diablo II: Battlenet.  Killers do not receive loot, xp,
trophies,
or special powers for killing other players.  Achievers, however, find that
"boss" monsters drop greater amounts or higher power treasure if more
adventurers are involved with the killing, especially if those adventurers
have
not killed the baddie before. 

Ian Hess



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