[MUD-Dev] Definition of a character (was: RE: Maintaining fiction.)

[Ian Collyer]

Ok, what is a character?

Is a character simply a set of database entries on the MUD server's
hard drives?

Here I agree with Matt, mere entries in a database table do not
constitute a character. If this were the case then players would
simply choose a personality type and backstory during character
creation then watch passively as their avatar lived out it's life in
the MUD.

As the avatar's actions are directed by the player and not some
in-game AI, at least part of the character must exist in the mind of
the player.

Well what about the other end of the scale then, is a character a
purely mental construction, existing only in the mind of the player?

Here again I have to say no, the player may have a mental image of
their character as the most notorious, stealthy, skilled thief ever
to exist, but if the MUD's database says DEX=3 then he's more likely
to fall flat on his face getting out of bed than be able to steal
the uber-amulet from under the nose of the baddest dragon in the
land.

So we are left with the conclusion that a character can only be
defined by taking account of both in-game attributes and the
player's own mental image of the persona they are playing.

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev