[MUD-Dev] RE:

[Bobby Martin]

> From: Jeff Cole <jeff.cole at mindspring.com>

> I find this exchange is very interesting.  Marian is correct that
> Raph's statement is too general to be useful, but Marian and
> Raph's arguments both betray a common misunderstanding: that while
> Sex is a driving force of human nature, violence is not.  Indeed,
> the stronger argument is that human behavior is the driving force
> of violence.  The distinction is important and not semantic.
 
> That Sex, the desire to reproduce, is a prime mover of human
> behavior is obvious insofar as one subscribes to the theory of
> evolution.  We refer to one's "sex-drive" and our bodies undergo
> drastic physical, chemical and emotional changes in order to
> accommodate this drive throughout our lives.
 
> The same is not true of violence.  In nature, violence is rarely a
> prime mover and almost always a response to some other urge or
> appetite.  Even for humans, what appears on the surface to be
> violence for violence's sake is arguably violence motivated by
> more complex appetites.

I would like to make an observation here...  Violence may not be a
prime mover in nature, but playing at violence is.  Young creatures
of all kinds play in ways that are emulations of their response to
violence.  Fox cubs bite and wrestle with each other, rabbits play
tag, etc.  I think the reasons why the inclination to practice one's
response to violent behavior is a positive survival characteristic
(and thus selected for in nature) are pretty obvious.

I'm not really going to analyze how this applies to game design (no
time now, busy busy busy!), but I wanted to make the note.

Oh, and I agree 100% that providing the tools to the players to make
interesting stories is an excellent way to build an enjoyable game.
Come see us at www.cosmgame.com.  We haven't really explored that
concept too terribly much on the customer web site, but we have gone
into it in some depth in the developer's private mailing list.  I'd
love to hear from you on the customer comment forum.

Bobby Martin
Lead Server Developer
Cosm Development Team
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