[MUD-Dev] Forks or Frameworks?

[Tess Snider]

On Fri, 29 Dec 2000, Travis Casey wrote:

> I also understand that this is done within many of the more
> RP-oriented mud types.  Other people can probably give better
> examples of that, though.

Exactly.  On a typical MUSH, for example, there is very little actual
"functionality" required for players to generate their own plots.
Typically, it merely requires initiative.  In fact, players
occasionally start plots without even realising it!

> IMHO, there's very little technical challenge to it... the Tiny
> family and its offshoots have long had fairly easy to use
> player-level creation tools.  The biggest problems are security
> problems -- e.g., how to prevent someone from making an unfair trap
> for another character.  That's probably why it's mostly been done so
> far on muds without nonconsensual character changes.

This is an excellent observation, and well worth note.  Even the
smallest amount of social engineering takes an inordinate amount of
code to replace.  I'm a bit fan of nurturing the ethics of your
particular game's player culture, regardless of whether you have the
code to back it up.  Otherwise, any code, rules, or other strictures
you present to your player base will merely be obstacles for them to
defeat.  If it's rules, the players will be rules-lawyers.  If it's
code, they'll be exploiters.  In the end, the community has to buy
into your view of fair play, or they're going to fight your vision
every step of the way.  Don't pop your ideals on them after they've
been around for a while.  Present them from the very *beginning*, so
that your players understand that they are prime tenets of your
community.  Indoctrinate your earliest players, so that they will act
as guides to the players who are yet to come.

Tess Snider

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