[MUD-Dev] Persistent Worlds

[Travis Casey]

the_logos at www.achaea.com wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Feb 2001, John Buehler wrote:
> > Matt Mihaly writes:

> > > But why is exploiting the software and optimizing gameplay not
> > > reality?  If I found out that I could magically produce a bunch of
> > > money in real life by picking up and putting down $20 bills over and
> > > over again, you bet your ass I'd do it.
> >
> > I'm left speechless.  With a difference in philosophy like that, we're
> > done.  I am, anyway.
> 
> You're left speechless? *I'M* left speechless. You're telling me
> that if you found a "hole" in the structure of reality that allowed
> you to shortcut something (like the creation of wealth) you'd not
> take advantage of it? Actually, I'm not really sure it is possible
> to contemplate something in reality that is unreal, as if it was
> unreal it couldn't be a part of reality. I wouldn't see it as any
> different from using wind power to generate electricity.

This is a rather extreme point of view.  Many, if not most, game
players see the game rules not as being the actual rules of the game
reality, but as an approximation of them.  As an approximation, they
can be flawed, and to deliberately take advantage of such flaws can
then be considered cheating.

> Why in the name of God would you NOT do it? You're not really
> hurting anyone if you don't produce enough to devalue the
> currency. All you're doing is ensuring that you don't have to work
> for a living anymore.

Because I realize that the game is a game, with rules that are mere
approximations of the game reality, and not a definition of the game
reality.  Thus, a bug that allows a character to keep picking up $20
over and over is a bug, and not something the character should
*really* be able to do.  From my point of view, taking advantage of
such a bug is simply cheating.

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_     Travis S. Casey  <efindel at earthlink.net>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-' 
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)
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