[MUD-Dev] Real Life Consequences

[John Buehler]

Corey Crawford writes:

> My question is, has anyone ever thought of - instead of banning,
> deleting, shrubing, whatever'ing - fining a player for grievances
> against the game?

> I'm talking charging real life money (via credit card, most likely)
> because of rules broken.

> What kind of legal implications would this have?

I've certainly been involved with discussions about how to deal with
grief players at all levels.  One model required an 'abuse deposit' be
made when the game is entered.  As out of game infractions are
committed, that deposit is eaten up.  Unfortunately, this has the
trait of play-for-grief.  Fortunately, it does up the ante, making
casual grief, exploits and so on less attractive.

Legally, things get ugly when we start talking about fines.  You've
just introduced a real world point of contention, and if there is a
dispute you might find yourself in court over those real world fines.
I think that denial of service is the answer.  Infractions cause
suspensions from game play, and can eventually lead to permanent
suspension/ejection.  This required identity information,
unfortunately, so is problematic to implement.

I've thought of having a specific chain of software retailer carry my
game and to actually collect identification information at the point
of sale.  Such a treatment would require someone with a photo
identification to purchase the game, and the number of identities that
you can have is limited to the number of friends you have with photo
ids.  The alternate approach is that the game can only be sold to
adults, 21 and over, limiting the abuse to adults that are willing to
purchase additional copies of the game for you.  Adults purchasing
copies of the game for their children would be given dispensation to
buy multiple copies.  A hole, but one that only adults would exploit,
and they would have to do it in person.  More attempts at thinning the
ranks of grief players.

JB

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