[MUD-Dev] Banning Players for Off-Site Activities?

[Ananda Dawnsinger]

Phew!  There's one heck of a stink brewing in the Everquest community after
a player was banned for fan fiction posted to a non-affiliated (Vault
Network) board:

http://boards.station.sony.com/everquest/Forum2/HTML/020716.html

(Since that particular thread was closed, about a hundred more have popped
up.  I don't think that's much of an exaggeration, either.)

I had a chance to read the offending story before it was removed from the
message board at about noon today.  It definitely wasn't appropriate for an
ungated site ("Warning: Offensive Material Ahead").

I think some interesting questions arise from this:

Do admins have the right and/or responsibility to ban a player for their
behavior on areas not controlled by game management?

(If a third party were involved -- e.g. a tinysex capture uploaded to a web
site -- I'd say a ban is perfectly appropriate.  I find it much more
difficult to justify banning a player just because their fan fiction is
inappropriate and politically incorrect.)

Do the massively multiplayer games have more of a right/responsibility?
Does their size mandate a zero-tolerance policy -- somebody complained about
you, you're out of here?

Do free MUDs and boutique games have more of a right/responsibility?  Do
their small size and cohesiveness mean that admins have an obligation to
remove disruptive members, even if their perceived disruption is not
directed at other players and is kept off-site?

Do free MUDs have an obligation to accept behavior that commercial products
disallow because they are free and a "public service"?  Or do they have less
obligation because players aren't paying a fee to play?


I admit, this incident gave me the impetus I needed to cancel my EQ account.
Unfortunately, it was already inactive... I hadn't logged in since AC beta
0...

--
Sharon Mock (Ananda Dawnsinger)
Worldbuilding Lead and Loremistress General,
(project to be named later)





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