[MUD-Dev] PvP Systems

[the_logos at www.achaea.com]

On Sat, 3 Feb 2001, John Buehler wrote:

> Jon Lambert also made comments about the 'insult' scenario, which
> Matt Mihaly agreed with.  Unfortunately, I didn't get Jon's
> posting, so I'll just address the topic here.

<EdNote: Email is not a reliable transport protocol.  While the
expecttion is that each SMTP server is transactionally secure within
its realm, and SMTP itself is transactionally secure, there is no
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and this caveat is explicitly stated within the relevant RFCs.  That's
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access to anything you may have missed (or forgotten).>
 
> I completely disregard the 'insult' scenario.  If someone fires a
> verbal volley at you, you get to fire a verbal volley back at
> them.  This is entirely consistent with the PvP approach that I'm
> after.  If you want to pound on them and they have their PvP
> settings set to 'no', then you get to additionally ridicule them
> for being a gutless coward.  And you can still invite them to meet
> you later after they change their PvP setting to a level that the
> two of you can agree on.  If they refuse, then you can really
> laugh at them.
 
> This may not be perfectly satisfying to you, but it keeps PvP
> scenarios under control.  EverQuest and Asheron's Call have this
> situation on the vast majority of their servers and even with the
> limited game entertainment available, player endure whatever
> insulting is done.  At least I'm giving you the ability to invite
> the taunter to put their money where their mouth is by meeting you
> later for a one-on-one PvP encounter - all carefully controlled by
> the game.

That may be well and good in monster bashing games like Everquest,
where all players are assumed to be basically 'equal' but in a game
with a stronger social structure, where there are superiors and
inferiors, I think it's a bit poor to let the newbie peasant run his
mouth off at the king without any consequences whatsoever. Given the
relatively limited rewards available to in-game leaders (ie, they
aren't going to get driven to work everyday or get to stay in swank
hotels while on trips, etc), respect of other players becomes one of
the most important rewards, and allowing open belittling of the
leaders tends to undermine that respect and make the leader look
incompetent and weak. This isn't true in a society lead by leaders
it doesn't know (such as the modern nation-state), but in a smaller
community where there are more personal ties and personal respect at
stake, such a thing is counter-productive to effective leadership,
not to mention counter-productive to ensuring that player-leaders
get what they are most after: respect and some power over their
fellow players.

--matt


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