[MUD-Dev] Natural Selection and Communities

[Matt Mihaly]

On Tue, 27 Aug 2002, Paul Schwanz wrote:

> For example, I recently participated in a discussion regarding
> eminent domain laws in player-owned cities in an MMORPG currently
> in development.  This is the first time I've seen ED debated, but
> in many ways, I feel like I've participated in the same exact
> discussion on many, many occasions.

We deal with a lot of ED issues. I know a number of other text MUDs
do too.
 
> Why not let the player-run cities each decide for themselves what
> form ED will take?

That's what we did/do. Each city has their own set of laws about
kicking people out of the city, repossessing shops due to
non-payment of taxation, etc. However, any government minister CAN
simply ignore the laws and do it anyway. How long that person stays
a government minister is a good indication of the quality of the
city's government.

I'll also add that some corruption in a political system can be lots
of fun.

> ED is only one such issue, though.  As I mentioned before, it
> seemed to me that the ED discussion was very typical.  There are
> many other issues that I believe are best addressed at the
> community, not the global level.  If I don't like the community's
> implementation, I can find another community within the same
> MMORPG, but if I don't like the global implementation, I must look
> outside of the current MMORPG if I am to find the community that
> fits me.  I don't think we should underestimate just how much the
> rules of the community affect its character.

Yep. Achaea, for instance, is all about this idea. The different
player-cities have enormously different cultures, and those cultures
are almost entirely a result of the citizens of those cities.

Shallam is the 'city of good' but also has a reputation for
overzealousness and a lot of political in-fighting between the
Church guilds and non-Church guilds. Ashtan was originally sort of
the 'city of evil' but has in the last year or two redefined itself
into the 'city of freedom.' They have had large debates/fights over
things like freedom of religion and whatnot, while Shallam has been
known to openly discriminate against members of certain religions.

Hashan is practically a religious state, with the worshippers of
Twilight, God of Darkness, having a bit of an iron grip on the
city. Any suggestion perceived as something that may weaken
Twilight's grip is met with fierce resistance by his followers. The
other three cities have similarly different cultures.

> If you then design so that community growth leads to increased
> opportunities for individual success, won't this create an even
> stronger selection mechanism?  In other words, the community is
> even more motivated to structure gameplay such that the community
> will grow if it knows that 200 more citizens will mean that the
> city will attract better NPC trainers, will be allowed to build
> better municipal buildings, will be able to expand its borders,
> etc.

Yep.
 
> I don't doubt that building this sort of flexibility into
> communities will require more effort and resources for designing
> and coding the game, but it seems to me that the benefits would
> vastly outweigh the costs.
 
> Or am I just not seeing the whole picture here?

You're seeing clearly. This does and has been working for quite a
few years on more than one text MUD.

--matt

Ashcroft needs a beating.


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