[MUD-Dev] Absolute Death (legalese mode on)

[Matt Mihaly]

On Tue, 19 Jun 2001, shren wrote:

> Hey, I was a defense employee.  You guys got all of the money, but
> we could never give you the hard parts of the problem.  Argh.  I'm
> bitter, but that's predictable for a government employee.  *grin*

>   Terms:
 
>     Record - the part of the character that can be stored in the
>     database.

Question: Are two identical records the same record? Is it the same
record if I move copy the data in a record from one place in the
database to another and destroy the old copy of the data?

 
>     Closed - not usable, playable, or copyable from within the
>     game.  Exists only as a testament to the character's former
>     existance, tombstone style.

Presumably this is recognized as a temporary state of existence
then, as it can always be reversed.

>     Natural - a logical result of the reality created by the mud,
>     accomplishable by the players without extra help from
>     administrators or problems caused by bugs.

"Logical result of the reality created by the MUD?" And how would
you determine this? It's not even applicable to most MUDs, as they
do not operate on axiomatic principles. MUDs are generally
collections of systems that are not related by any higher
principle. There is usually no way to claim that something is the
necessary logical result of something else.

Further, the only difference between a bug and a feature is the
designer's intention, which can and does change.

 
>       A) The record is closed.
 
>       B) The close is an expected consequence of natural
>       conditions.

Expected by whom? As MUDs are, as I stated, systems connected
generally arbitrarily, and which operate without reference to
principle, how can you ever say that something is the logical
consequence of natural conditions in a MUD? Furthermore, what is the
"natural condition" of a MUD? I'm not sure what you mean by that,
and how you would define it.

 
>       C) The close is not reversable through natural actions.

Same criticism as above re: natural actions.

--matt

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