[MUD-Dev] Consistent Characters

[Jeremy Hovance]

> Travis Casey replied:
> > How do you know it's out of character?  Are all paladins the same?
> > Can paladins not be mistaken?  What if I want to play a fallen
> > paladin, and am in the process of having him fall?  What if I want to
> > play a flawed paladin -- a good man with a bad temper?  Simply by
> > leaving off the "attack" option, you're both giving me information
> > that I might not have had (that this is someone I'm not supposed to
> > attack) *and* restricting the kinds of characters I can play.

I fail to see how leaving off the attack option for a good-aligned paladin =
speaking with a good cleric is restricting roleplaying. Complexity in =
coding social functions or the unspoken social protocol invites ambiguity, =
loopholes, rulelawyering and metagaming.=20

Paladins aren't all the same, but all of them have similarities, due to =
martial training. If you want to play a fallen paladin, pick a fighter =
class with a shady alignment or an anti/dark paladin class if they have =
it.=20

If you're in the process of falling, that sounds like an important plot =
point for the paladin's order. The other paladins should get together with =
this paladin and staffers to further develop the plot. Something like =
shouldn't be left to a character's whim ("I'm bored, so I think I'll kill =
somebody...but I'm a really good person. Honest!") or defined by a single =
keystroke.

A good paladin with a quick temper would make better roleplaying, if the =
impulsive temper were expressed in angry outbursts. You don't need an =
attack command to pose pulling out a sword at someone. If the other person =
is a decent roleplayer, they will respond accordingly. (On the more =
graphic-based games, you could have a 'ready' command that pulls out a =
weapon but does not attack.)Just because there's no coded attack button =
doesn't mean that you cn't roleplay out an attack. If there is command to =
allows the attacked person to add an injury to themselves, they can even =
end up with coded injury.=20

Just like a good book or movie, a good roleplaying game requires a =
suspension of disbelief. Overreliance on code narrows a player's imaginatio=
n and destroys any suspension of belief.=20

The larger that an online game becomes, the greater a need for consistant, =
unambigious standards. Because it is those standards that form the first =
level of adminstration and the players can spend less time asking for =
adminstration or clarification.=20
If you won't trust the client in player's hands, why would you give them =
carte blanche with something as fundamental to world view as character =
classes? A paladin has special benefits over a regular fighter and the =
price for those benefits is being held to a higher standard.=20

Giving a paladin the ability to do something so uncharacteristic just for =
the whim of the smallest possibility cheapens the character class. If my =
character knew that one paladin was going around striking down good =
clerics or good people in general, I would look at all paladins of that =
order with a lesser respect. Or if I were a paladin of that order, I would =
become very frustrated if the offending paladin was never online at the =
same time as mine, since they are affecting my roleplaying with others and =
restricting me from roleplaying actions that would be very in character =
for any paladin of that order.
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