[MUD-Dev] Mass customization in MM***s

[Damion Schubert]

From: John Robert Arras

> My problem is giving players institutionalized positions of power.
> For example, making a player the "mayor" of a city is a bad idea
> IMO. I don't trust players who are given that kind of
> institutional power for whatever reason. If players want to earn
> points and then use those points to influence the direction of the
> city, that's fine. It's just that singling out players for special
> treatment and giving them official titles that they can use to
> lord over other playesr is bad.

We effectively do this now commonly, with the title of 'guildmaster'
being the most common.  It seems to work marvelously, largely
because these systems are usually democratic.  If you lord your
status over other players and they don't enjoy that interaction,
they'll join another guild, or they'll vote the current master out
of power.

The difference between a guildmaster and a mayor, arguably, is
largely that the guildmaster leads a player-created, nebulous
concept, whereas a mayor leads a tangible piece of territory
supported by the fiction.  One could argue that giving players that
level of lordship over the fiction might give them too great of
bragging rights.  But I prefer the counterargument, which states
that fiction will never be meaningful until players can assume key
roles inside of it.

--d

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