[MUD-Dev] "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG"

Wed Nov 29 14:21:06 CET 2000

ghovs at ghovs.moo.ca Wrote:
> > On Wednesday 29 November 2000 00:35, Corey Crawford wrote:
> >
> > Hmm, what you say makes sense.. now how do we go about and accomplish this?
> >
> > I mean, are we suppose to baby-sit these kids, and 'raise' them above the
> > immature attitude of 'd00dism'? Ideally, we'd want them to be in an
> > environment that discourages d00dism, but not 'raise' each one individually
> > 'cause that's not our job.. or is it?
>
> While it should certainly not be our responsibility or duty, it's sometimes
> rewarding. Not often, though.

True, it would be like raising a kid and there is some satisfaction in that, but
it is not our responsibility or duty, and more likely than not it would be
fruitless.

> > To me, the only way a d00d will stay a d00d is if there are other d00dz who
> > think it's cool to be a d00d.. so in short, if no one was a d00d, there
> > really wouldn't be any .. at least not a d00d that last for very long. So,
> > do we force our other players (non-d00d's) to 'adopt' a d00d and 'raise'
> > them to the correct attitude we want on the game?
>
> If there were no chickens, we'd be rid of those pesky eggs.
>
> Forcing people into the Adopt-A-d00d program isn't going to work at all.
> Having a d00d adopt a parent doesn't work either.
>
> This is something that sometimes happens and often just doesn't.
> You can't make it happen, though.

Right again! I was just throwing ideas out, I'm not saying any of these would
work.. I'm try to draw more suggestions!

Hopefully in a high level involvement in guild/clan oriented gameplay would
promote an "adopt" attitude, but it would probably also lead to d00d only
clans/guilds unless for some reason that type of clan/guild could be denied. Any
further ideas on that?

> > Maybe we should just restrict our games to 18+ yo's (I'm over 18 now, so I
> > wouldn't object too vocally ;) so they we are pretty sure there won't be
> > very many d00dz (yes, there will be some.. but not as many).. and hopefully
> > there would be enough non-d00dz around to discourage d00dism. What say you?
>
> That would be foolish.
> Both because most people get into the whole online thing when they're under
> age and because saying '18+ ONLY!' on the Net gets you perhaps unintended
> interest.
> It's just not right to distinguish based on age alone.
> I can't be the only one who had an immensely good time with the bright
> 12-year-old, while only later discovering it's just a kid.

Again, just throwing ideas out trying to get feedback! And I agree with you, I
don't want my MUD limited to 18+.. I started mudding when I was 14, so I'm
usually willing to give minors the benefit of the doubt :)

> > Should we just habitually punish d00dish behavior? Maybe they'd get tired
> > of being tracked down and killed by the 'Paladin of the Anti-d00d God' and
> > just leave the game.. but then we lose their money. Hmm.
>
> Just like your annoying little brother is a part of life, it's part of having
> an online community to have people who're not in the spirit in the same way
> as others.

Yes, but you also get to beat up your little brother when he's being a jerk and
mom isn't around :P

> > How do we accomplish this 'environment' where everyone is satisfied and we
> > discourage d00dism?
>
> Either by peer pressure and not isolating the tiresome and aggravating d00dz
> (which is an effort players must make, not admins), or by integrating their
> style into an Evil player class (like those orcs on MUME)

Not all d00dz want to play evil characters though, and sometimes non-d00dz enjoy
a bit of evilness as well. It's not a bad idea (and one I have considered and
will implement to some degree on my own MUD) but it doesn't cover all the bases.

*I* want to see these d00dz turn into loyal, cash-paying players who
_contribute_ to the world rather than detract from it.. any more ideas on how to
do this? :)

Just now reading Jeff Freeman's email, he writes:
> On Ackadia the players are forced to pick a "home town" in order to do
> train, work or shop.  All the people with that same home town elect a
> mayor, and the mayor has the ability to ban people from the town.

I love this idea! I have been planning to implement kingdoms and townships and
such on my MUD, I hadn't thought to allow a mayor to actually _ban_ players for
their towns.. this seems to work well from what Jeff is saying. Especially if
all the skill oriented training is done is towns, this would totally promote
some type of "group" atmosphere as Jeff explains. Jeff, have you implemented
this limit as a "hard" limit (meaning, you try to walk into the town and the MUD
says 'You can't got into this town, you are banned!') or is it more of a "soft"
limit, possibly where you _can_ enter the town, but all the guards/players can
attack you?

Ultimately, I think promoting, or evening forcing, players to become part of a
group (the larger the better) will help weed out the d00dz and, even better,
break those d00dish habits.

:)

---
Corey Crawford | myrddin at seventh.net | www.seventh.net

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev