[MUD-Dev] Teaching ethics in MUDs (was Re: "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG")

[the_logos at www.achaea.com]

On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, John Buehler wrote:
> Tess Lowe:

>> So I can well understand your desire, John, to protect children
>> from that suffering, long enough so that they can develop some sort
>> of psychological strength to cope with it. Is it possible to learn
>> such wisdom without enduring the very pain we seek to be able to
>> cope with?
 
> It's a question of degree.  For a two year old, the pain of finding
> out that they are not at the center of the universe is significant,
> but it's the appropriate degree for a two year old child.  Do we
> take 13 year olds and place them in positions of power in an adult
> community?  Do they learn the correct lessons by being saddled with
> adult responsibilities at 13?  Some children will be able to rise to
> the challenge and thrive.  Others will not.

So then presumably you would be against ever placing _anyone_ in
positions of power in an "adult community"? Many adults are not
capable of handling it either, though some are. Just like 13 year olds
in fact.

> But the overall process is random.  You're assuming that the older
> players are mature and interested in helping others to understand
> the value of ethical behavior.  You're also assuming that the game
> world is ensuring that unethical approaches to solving problems will
> not be successful.  From what I read from Matt Mihaly, he likes
> systems that let players follow a sort of social evolutionary
> process.  It's tough, it's challenging, but it's fair in the end
> because it favors those most capable of using effective strategies.
> Genghis Khan used an effective strategy, as did Hitler and Stalin.

I'm not sure in what sense you use unethical here. I consider Hitler
to have been a pretty ethical guy. His ethics were simply different
from yours. I do tend to try admin Achaea in as unethical (in terms of
not worrying about ethics rather than the opposite of whatever system
of ethics you choose) as possible, though I've been known to come down
pretty hard on anyone expressing openly homophobic views. In this
sense, I try to simulate the real world, I suppose, in that the
universe doesn't care about ethics. Obviously many of our players play
in a manner somewhat consistent with their ethical beliefs, but
ethical beliefs differ as widely as the colours of the rainbow. For me
to pick one system and tell them "this is right" just smacks of bad
things to me.

--matt

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