[MUD-Dev] Maintaining fiction.

[Madman Across the Water]

Matt Mihaly wrote:
 
> Is the character irrelevant? What defines a character? This is
> what

And there's the rub, of course. In the relatively short time I've
been here I've seen this discussed at length, I don't expect to see
a consensus now. <g> We can include both of our versions of
"permadeath" by either nailing down a definition of 'permadeath' but
letter definitions of 'character' vary, or by nailing down
'character' and letting 'permadeath' vary. I'm a mathematician- it's
all in the variables.

I don't include equipment in the definition of character. I've had
characters that were in a way partially defined by their items:
think Excaliber and Arthur. But when Arthur died, Excaliber still
existed. And that didn't make Arthur any more alive. Even if
Arthur's son ends up wielding it someday in the future.

Does this translate into the MMOG realm? Where is the boundary
between character and account? Between character and account and
player?

I think it's still permadeath if you do something to soften the
blow, making it easier to get started the next time. If your
character "Matt" dies, and you start a new character "Matt", no
matter how much or how little of the original character's stuff,
skills, etc you are handed upon creation, you could still regain
everything exactly as before, eventually, and claim to be the same
person. Your "entry in the database" example, it seems to me,
applies equally well in arguing against _any_ level of division
between one character and the next- leaving aside special case MUDs
where you are outright forbidden to create the same character again,
whether because of a unique names policy or unique items or what
have you.

> What is your definition though? I don't think you gave one, did
> you?

I tend to agree with Jeff's. Permadeath is permanent loss of the
character. The character is what you always have when you are logged
in.  You can take off your equipment and it doesn't change your
character. So that isn't part of your character. Your character is
your avatar and its skills, flags, total skill points/XP earned,
etc.

To give a totally useless definition, it's permadeath if it would
make me, as a roleplayer, play my new character as though he were a
new character, and treat the old one as though he were dead.

I'd elaborate more but I really need to send this end head to work.

Adam B
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