[MUD-Dev] [OT] Taking things too far.

[Greg Munt]

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Stuart <srstuart at bigfoot.com>
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: 14 May 2001 8:54 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] [OT] Taking things too far.

> I'm one of the administrators of a hard-core MUD, and we've
> currently got a serious situation we're not sure how to handle.

Maybe I'm not up with the street-cred terminology enough. What's a
"hard-core" mud? Note: lower case :-)

> We recently had a player report that he received an anonymous death
> threat by email from another player. The threat was regarding game
> issues, yet not only the character's life was threatened, but also
> the player's life (as well as his car, house and computer). The
> sender of the threat found this person's email address (which isn't
> published anywhere in the game) and sent an anonymous email, taking
> steps to hide his/her identity.

> We are taking it very seriously, but we're just not sure how to
> handle it. Have any of you ever dealt with a similar situation?

It's only a game... It's only a game... It's only a game... How often
have I been told this complete nonsense..? Too many times.

I would have thought that the people dealing with it should only
really be the relevant authorities. I would also have thought that
there's not much they can do until an actual crime is committed. These
threats may consitute a crime, they may not. (Multiple threats
probably would at least count as harassment?)

I would deal with it in a completely OOC manner. Possibly you might
like to be overzealous in your administrative dealings with both
players, in-game.

"It's only a game" dehumanises your fellow players. It trivialises
negative activities enacted throughout the game. It trivialises
emotional and spiritual pain causes by killers. (I've noticed the term
"Grief Player" has come into usage - that's not a bad description.) It
trivialises the game itself.

The game is.. er.. fun, though? Right? That's all it is, and should
be.  Right?

Wrong.

A mud is about community. About groups of people coming together. Real
people. When a character is harassed, the player feels their pain.
Effectively, the character is simply a conduit to the player's
emotions. I'd say that the blame is sourced at the bonds that players
fundamentally grow between themselves and their characters. (This has
been discussed in another thread.) I'd think that immersion has a role
to play in this as well.

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