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

[Matt Mihaly]

On Thu, 25 Jul 2002, John Robert Arras wrote:
 
> I'm not sure. I will try to explain it like this:
 
> When I think of adding a feature to my game, my thought process
> isn't like:
 
>   "How cool would this be if used wisely by the playerbase?"
 
> My thought process is more like:
 
>   "If the biggest a-hole in the game managed to get access to
>   this, how much misery could he cause?"
 
> In short: I think like a cheater.
 
> If I plan on putting something into the game, I try to implement
> it in a way that I can't figure out how to game the system. I
> haven't been able to figure out how to implement positions of
> power other than ones with at most superficial power. I don't know
> if it's possible.

Sure, I understand. I'm willing to let some holes go and regulate
them with human intervention, because I think it gives a richer
experience by allowing for expression that can't be adequately
covered by a rigid set of rules. Whether or not that translates into
a more or less profitable system is up for debate, as is how well it
scales. Not scaling isn't a slur on an idea though.
 
>> And incidentally, you don't just appoint a player as major of a
>> city, you let the player-citizens vote him in, and give the mayor
>> responsibilities vis a vis the citizenry, so that if he is an
>> immature ass, he'll quickly be out of office.
 
> But a large group of of them could cause a lot of pain
> locally. Even if it's only one city out of many, I don't like the
> idea that the developers set something up where players can
> restrict access to parts of the game with the imprimatur of the
> admin staff.

> But we both know that this isn't really a power that can hurt
> other players. :) Ceremonial positions are fine by me since they
> don't give real power over other players.

It's not just ceremonial power though. Players in government have
the power to set tax rates on other players shops, repossess them,
kick them out of the city, enemy them to the city, which then causes
the player to be attacked by the rather hefty city-guards any time
he enters. Is this too much power? On the one hand, it seems
trivial. Just go join another city. On the other hand, players are
extremely attached to their cities, and being kicked out can be
quite traumatic. You lose that community, and the protection and
assistance of that community in the larger world.

Guild leaders have even more power over newbies, though not over
established players. They can, at will, kick someone below guild
rank 3 out of a guild, removing that person's class and all his
related skills.

Now, we've been doing this for 5 years now, and I could count on my
fingers the number of times we've intervened in a guild kicking
someone out (in other words, someone got kicked out for spurious
reasons, and it cost them credits, which they paid real money for),
and I can't recall -ever- taking any action to punish or regulate a
city leader. Occasionally that power is abused, but unless it's of a
large scope, we don't care. Corruption is fun. If it's abused on a
large scope, well, the patron God of that city, or my God, who is
the Creator, may decide that someone isn't worthy of holding
power. So far that's never been necessary though.

I just think that if you worry about the worst case scenario, then
you will never do anything, because the worst case scenario in any
given situation is, by definition, quite bad. Any venture is risky
if you only measure the risk. Measure risk vs. reward instead.

--matt




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