[MUD-Dev] Ethical behavior ... a hijacking.

[John Buehler]

Matt Mihaly writes:
> On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Jeff Cole wrote:
>>> From: John Buehler

>>> In truth, the rights of players don't ever change because they
>>> remain the rights of people in a community.  Our rights don't
>>> need to be restated, only understood in light of the anonymous,
>>> multiplayer environment.

>> Surely, you are not espousing some idea of "inalienable human
>> rights" applied to games?  Ack!

> I think what John means here is that avatars don't have rights,
> and the idea of them having rights is a bit loony. They are just
> database entries. I think what he's saying is that the
> conventional view is that only living things (or only people,
> depending on how broad-minded someone is) have rights, and that
> these rights aren't changed or altered by the circumstance of
> playing a game. They just need to be interpreted in that light.

Yes, that was my intent.

>>> For anyone not picking up on it, I consider immersion to be bad
>>> when the duration of the immersion is under the control of the
>>> player.  Limited immersion is one thing.  Hours and hours of it
>>> is not reasonable.

>> huh?  What do you think player's look for in these games?  It's
>> certainly some amount of immersion.

> John doesn't feel that players are intelligent enough or have
> enough willpower to limit their playing hours to what he deems is
> reasonable. In some cases, he's probably right, but that's their
> problem, not mine as a developer/administrator. I spent 15 minutes
> on the phone this morning with a mother begging me to help me get
> her college-attending son to stop playing Achaea or Aetolia, as
> he's going to flunk out of college soon. Her words were "He's as
> addicted as if he had a needle sticking out of his arm." That's a
> bit of an overstatement no doubt, but John feels, I think, that
> addiction should be the developer/administrator's responsibility
> rather than the players' (or at least partially the
> developer/administrator's responsibility).

Every individual is responsible for ensuring their own well-being
and for the well-being of those that they interact with.  If you
choose to do something that impacts you personally, then it is your
responsibility to choose things that impact you in as positive a way
as possible.  If you interact with an individual, then it is your
responsibility to interact in as positive a way as possible.

The player is responsible for his or her own well-being.  You are
responsible for providing entertainment that is
socially-responsible.  I am responsible for behaving myself in a
responsible way in this forum and to pursue having a positive impact
on every individual who reads something that I post here.

>>> So write a document that does one thing and one thing only:
>>> reinforce the standing of the individuals playing the game and
>>> stop focusing on the characters in the game.

>> It's called the EULA.

> Quite right.

A EULA is a vehicle for making declarations of rights.  It doesn't
mean that those rights are socially-responsible.  Only that they are
codified, and that an attempt can be made at enforcement.

> This is directed to John: Why would a single document be desirable
> or necessary? I mean, the standing of individuals in games is
> already contained in the legal codes of the various countries of
> the world. And why would I, as a developer/administrator, sign
> that kind of document, except as a marketing ploy?

I dunno about Raph's intention of getting people to sign a document.
As far as I'm concerned, if you believe that people are the
important thing and that you don't want to injure them in any way,
shape or form, then your actions will convey that far better than
your signature on a document.  I'm not after a legal document so
much a document that simply illustrates the need for the and value
of putting people first and virtual worlds somewhere farther down
the list.

JB

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