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

[John Robert Arras]

(Sorry for the late response. I have been away.)

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002, Paul E. Schwanz, II wrote:
> From: John Robert Arras <johna at wam.umd.edu>

>> My problem is giving players institutionalized positions of
>> power.  For example, making a player the "mayor" of a city is a
>> bad idea

> Isn't this highly dependant upon implementation, though?  I mean,
> if a mayor can lord his position over other players then wouldn't
> that mean that you haven't hit Ron's mark where players can be
> held accountable for their actions?

Yes this is dependent on implementation. But, when people talk about
"mayors" or "kings" they are talking about offices that would give
players too much power over other players. If the position is
ceremonial, or if it won't let a player ruin the fun of another
player, then I don't have a problem with it.  I think the way you
implement these positions safely is by taking most or all of the
power (to affect or control other players) out of them.

> When you talk about making a player the mayor of a city, who is
> doing the making?  Is this a developer thing or a player thing?
> Does time=experience pointsB='level to mayor' like in many current
> games, or are we talking about mayors being elected to the
> position by citizens of the town, as we would intuitively
> understand this to work in the non-virtual world?

I was thinking that the developers create a city and decide that the
city needs a mayor and that the mayor gets put into position
somehow. The position might be won by doing a quest or by a vote or
by developer choice. It makes no difference to me. What bothers me
is that the developers made a real position of power that a player
could take.

> Can we not design a game where the players can hold the mayor
> accountable for his actions?  I can think of a couple of ways to
> do this off the top of my head.
 
>   1.  Mayors are elected.  If you try to use strongarm tactics or
>   lord you position over your constituents, you might just be
>   shooting yourself in the political foot.

I am assuming that grief players will flock together to make the
other players miserable in at least some parts of the world.

>   2.  The power of a position is somewhat dependant upon
>   population.  If players don't like living in your town, they may
>   decide to go elsewhere.  If enough players leave, your town
>   might slip back to being merely a village.  Since only towns
>   have a mayor, you would also lose a 'level' personally and be
>   relegated to be the Village Headman.  As a village, you don't
>   draw the same caliber of NPC trainers as you did when you were a
>   town.  You also are not able to order the construction of many
>   of the city structures that help make community life
>   advantageous.  

I don't like the idea that mean players can make parts of the game
"off limits" because the designers set up the game that
way. Dictators regularly cut their countries off from the rest of
the world so they can be a big fish in a little pond.

I don't mind if a guild just decides to kill anyone who enters a
certain town. I do mind if the developers set up a "mayor" position
and the guild takes over the town and then proceeds to kill anyone
who enters the town and justifies it by saying that "they're the law
becuse they earned/stole/were given these positions of power that
were set up by the developers."

> If we can create more symbiotic relationships so that the
> community needs its leaders and the leaders need the community, I
> think that player run governments complete with governmental
> positions like mayors can be a wonderful thing for an MMORPG.
> There need to be checks and balances so that institutional power
> comes with accountability, but I would personally prefer a system
> with that kind of freedom and flexibility over a theocracy run by
> an overworked and overwrought development team; entirely too human
> to be gods.

I'm happy if governance arises from within the playerbase. I am
happy if people in a certain part of the world take it upon
themselves to tame that part of the world and remake it in their own
image. I just don't like the idea of players getting "official"
positions that were precreated by the developers that get filled
somehow by players during the course of the game. IMO such positions
need to be ceremonial and bereft of power or they can and will be
abused.

John


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