[MUD-Dev] Definition of a character II, permadeath and "who's running this show anyway?"

[Ian Collyer]

IMO most of us are familiar with at least two different uses of the
term 'character':

  i. The AD&D type of character

    An entity which has asscociated quantifiable properties (stats,
    level, skills, etc.), that exists in a shared fictional
    environment and who's actions are controlled by a human player.

  ii. A roleplaying persona

    A mental picture, a collection of personality traits and
    ideosyncracies, perhaps even a name and a backstory. It has no
    'existence' as such, but can be projected into many settings
    (MUD, book, movie).

(Before you jump in and challenge the first usage, ask yourself if
you have truly never spoken of "rolling a character" in a pencil and
paper RPG, or used the term "character creation" for the process of
choosing the name/sex/race/class of an avatar.)

Both uses of the term 'character' are so ingrained that it is
difficult to totally reject one in favour of the other.

While we may usefully try to refine our definitions of either
useage, attempting to produce an inclusive definition is an
impossible task.

For clarity in future use I will use the term 'character' to refer
to the first usage and the term 'meta-character' for the second.

The two are linked as a character is the projection of a
meta-character into a virtual environment.

Now my final words on the permadeath issue (I hope).

Easy one first, can a meta-character suffer a permadeath?

No, in fact it cannot even suffer a regular death as it doesn't
exist in any form that can be killed.  Even mentally visualising
your meta-character's death doesn't do the job as you are merely
killing a character constructed from your meta-character.  (You
could argue that a meta-character can be killed by brain damage to
the player causing a loss of all memory of the meta-character, but
that's being nit-picky in the extreme. ;P )

So can a character suffer a permadeath?

Yes, and after much reflection I now agree completely with Matt, a
character can permadie, but only with the consent of the player.  My
earlier contention of this was biased as I tend to abide by the MUD
designer's concept of death, but agree now that I could play a
perfectly valid character in a MUD while refusing to accept the
MUD's view on death.

Which leads me on neatly to my final question...

  "who's running this show anyway?"

Exactly how much control over a MUD does the designer have?

If they are incapable of enforcing something so fundamental as the
death of a character, what implications does that have for the way
the MUD is run?

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