[MUD-Dev] List rituals

[J C Lawrence]

On Mon, 2 Jul 2001 23:02:37 -0000 
yospe  <yospe at kanga.nu> wrote:
> J C Lawrence <claw at kanga.nu> said:
>> On Sat, 23 Jun 2001 09:35:30 +0200 Ola Fosheim
>> <=?iso-8859-1?Q?Gr=F8stad?= <olag at ifi.uio.no>> wrote:

> What's been forgotten and reinvented: Character vs. Player
> vs. Account

Aye, we've gone around that bollard several times.

> Character as a seperate entity (in terms of data structure) from a
> player account - you hate this, J C, but the form is valid...

I was the early champion of separating the character from the player
account object.  You may recall that my original reasoning for this
was to allow a single account (human) to have several characters
which could then played simultaneously via the same login.  If you
check the archives you can find various game logs I posted showing
how I managed this from an interface perspective.

This was also the early form of the logic that later lead to the
support of swarm bodies -- a character which has viewports in
multiple possibly widely separated locations (eg ant colony with
many ants in various locations, some in variously large groups).

> ... and it has been a recuring theme/thread that could use
> referencing with regard to the current discussion: characters may
> not be *entirely* under player control; players may be viewed as a
> conciousness inhabiting a somewhat instinct/acculturation/emotion
> influenced body (with the mud itself as the character's endocrine
> system et al) as a means of controlling some aspects of behaviour.

Ahh, now that's the bit I wasn't too fond of: the player as visitor
on a character.  I had no dislike of the abstraction, just the step
the other way of making the character not an explicit possession of
the account.  A bit different.  We had some prior discussions around
having characters essentially be NPCs which the player then dropped
into and variously occupied, yeah.  There are several middle grounds
there which have been mentioned several times but have failed to
ever be really explored:

  -- Setting your character at task(s) to be performed while the
  owner is logged out.

  -- Sharing characters on a first-come-first-served basis among
  several/many accounts (typical GoP model has characters as a stat
  accrual method for account objects).

  -- Getting a report upon login of the things which have happened
  in your character's vicinity while you were away.

  -- Ramifications of leaving a character in-game during logout, and
  thus variously subject to the predations/activities of other
  players during logged out time.

  -- Scripting of character activity at both the task level and
  AI-based self-defence/reaction/bot level while logout (eg
  automated merchant), especially on the account/character group
  level.

    eg Bubba has an account on the game.  That account has three
    characters: a merchant and an accomplished warrior and an
    accomplished magic user.  While Bubba is logged out the warrior
    and mage conspire mutually to defend and protect the merchant
    while the merchant conducts business on Bubba's stick of EQ
    during Bubba's absence.

>>> * in-game mail and the lack thereof is a ritual.

>> Off hand I recall only one prior thread that went this way, and
>> it did so only cursorily.

> Back in '95 or so, there was a pretty long thread on the topic.  

You have a better recall than I Gunga Din.

> I can also remember a technical thread in the bug.be days on mail
> protocols.

Ahh yeah.

>>> * UDP vs TCP is an annual ritual.

>> Recurrent, never has been a deep, long, or particularly content
>> full thread, just an arm-waving assessment and comment on the
>> fact that there are differences and you should be choose wisely.

> '95, mixed in with Texas Free Store discussions.  Extensive
> details on UDP as a protocol, on Firewall issues, on error
> checking.

You have any of that traffic to hand?  I have it in some old ZMailer
archives which are semi-munged and proving very resistant to
recovery.

>>> * what this list really is about is a ritual.

>> Its rarely been a full blown thread, but there's a steady stream
>> of side notes on already extant threads, yes.  Arguably I've
>> encouraged this (I've a fondness for parenthetical expression),
>> and my moderation style has sustained the mystery and its
>> surrounding hubbub.

> So... you're the high priest?

Whipping boy and generous arm waver at the Great Mysteries?

>>> * rituals is a ritual.

>> You bet.  Earliest example: MUD-Dev is a MUD.  Second earliest
>> example: Even non-roleplayers roleplay, they just don't know it.

>> ObNote: Actually there is an even earlier ritual, but none of the
>> people who were active on the list at that time are still active,
>> and the ritual died ~4 years ago.  Careful archive readers might
>> find it tho (I haven't checked).

> Invitations and the seeding of rec.games.mud.admin with
> discussions, meant to ferret out the talent for importation?

And the reflective, "Boy, this really isn't rgma!"

(In truth I've forgotten what I was referring to there, but that
seems likely)

> (What, am I chopped liver?  I was here, I was...)

Were you on the CC: list?  I thought you came in a little later.  

>> Is the field deterministic?
 
> No, and thank goodness, or there would be no room for the likes of
> thee and me.

<bow>

Good to hear I still have some use.

--
J C Lawrence                                       claw at kanga.nu
---------(*)                          http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/
The pressure to survive and rhetoric may make strange bedfellows
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