[MUD-Dev] Maintaining fiction.

[Matt Mihaly]

On Wed, 13 Jun 2001, Ian Collyer wrote:
> Matt Mihaly wrote:
 
>> Right, a character is a mental construction I think.
 
> To me a character is a combination of the two, my mental picture
> of the persona I wish to play is the 'soul' of the character, the
> database entries on the MUD (stats, skills, etc.) are the 'body'.
> Take away either one and the character 'dies', at least as far as
> that MUD is concerned.

I have to stand by my point. Consider that I often get players
asking me for a name change so that they can start a 'new character'
without going through the hassle of getting the xp and equipment,
the expense of buying credits, etc. We never do this, but the point
is that to the player, it's a different character. The name change
isn't even important really, except insofar as no one would take the
'new character' seriously without the name change.

>> But we've already established that a character cannot be
>> represented in a database, so how could the code of a game wipe
>> out a character? The more I think about it, the more nonsensical
>> permadeath-as-defined-by-code seems as a concept.
 
> If my character is dead and the natural laws of the MUD offer no
> further chance of resurrection then that is effective permadeath.

That assumes that a character can be defined by databases. I do not
believe it can be.
 
> I _know_ as a player that my character has died and nothing I can
> do within the limits imposed on me by the MUD can bring him back.
> Sure I can create a new set of database entries with the same
> name, skills, attributes as the original; but the suspension of
> disbelief required to think of this new avatar as the same
> character is simply too great, I _know_ he died, irrevocably.

I still have characters that don't exist in any database. 

>> But the old one isn't dead and gone. The player can simply play
>> the same character, just with new database entries (and since
>> database entires fluctuate all the time anyway, is it any
>> different? I don't think so).
 
> As I said above, my character died, no set of database entries
> however similar to the original can ever bring him back.  I guess
> I'm just more roleplayer than rollplayer ;)

I see what you're saying, yes. My point, though, is that the
database entires are completely irrelevant to what a character is. I
too am talking as a roleplayer. And as a roleplayer, I choose when
my character dies, not a bunch of code.

> It's impossible to enforce permadeath on those unwilling to accept
> it, or those who do not care about such things.
 
> But for those who believe in the MUD and truly immerse themselves
> in it there's no escape from a permadeath.

Again, that's the player's choice, not the code's.

 
--matt

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