[MUD-Dev] Logical MUD Areas

[Eli Stevens]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at msn.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 5:10 PM
Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Logical MUD Areas

> Kevin Littlejohn writes:

> I'm concerned with the issues of respecting sentient life first, and
> of responsibly husbanding the animal and other natural resources of
> the environment second.  The 'sentient' comment gets interesting
> because for a game world, I'm introducing the idea of completely
> evil races - where such a thing doesn't exist in the real world.

Viewing animals as a "natural resource" and not as sentient life is a
value judgement in and of itself.  The fact that the majority would
agree with you doesn't make it _fact_, it just means that it is a
common value stance to hold.

>> There's shades of grey hiding in the brightest places...

> Something else I disagree with.  If you see grey, you're not looking
> closely enough.  Grey is made up of little flecks of black and
> white.  Sometimes you have to take a mixed set as a package deal,
> but knowing which is which is very important.

That's interesting - when I see grey, I am actually looking at little
flecks of red, blue and green (don't believe me?  Lean in close, and
take another look.  See? ;).  My point is simply that what you call
"completely evil" is a value judgement on your part.  While somewhat
absurd, there will be some qualities that you think of as pure,
unadulterated, blackest-pits-of-Hell evil that others will see as a
shade of grey, and experience the very moral self-questioning that you
were trying to avoid.  This is not really a problem, so long as the
decision to endorse / condemn a specific set of values is made
consciously.  Made unconsciously, it is a dogma (which I think of as
generally bad - others may not...  ;).

Granted, it probably will not happen often.  :)

You seem intent on providing experiences that reinforce the values
that you perceive as good.  What happens when someone with differing
values tries to have those experiences?  Will you try and convince
them that their values are wrong, and need to be converted to yours?
Or will you try and provide experiences that reinforce their values,
even though they are different from yours (different enough that you
perceive them as wrong)?


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