[MUD-Dev] Re: Online vs Offline (was CoH and others)

[J C Lawrence]

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:54:03 -0700 
Matt Mihaly <matt at ironrealms.com> wrote:
> J C Lawrence wrote:
>> On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:03:42 -0700 Matt Mihaly <matt at ironrealms.com>
>> wrote:

>>> What a jerk.

>> I find it interesting to look at such things as versions of the Free
>> Ride Paradox, also known as Voter's Paradox, the Volunteer's Paradox,
>> Collective Action problems, the Tragedy of the Commons, and the
>> Many-Person Prisoner's Dilemma.  Sure they could spend the money and
>> support you as a publisher, but it is just as easy for them to not
>> spend the money, letting others do it instead, and to still get the
>> benefits of your publication.  Given that the value gain to them for
>> spending their $$$ is proximal to zero, the realised cost is far from
>> zero and the risk is minimal -- at best it makes simple financial
>> sense for them to pirate.

> God forbid any of us employ ethics that do not boil down to the ends
> justifying the means!

Certainly crying "No fair!" is a common reaction.

> --matt, who is off to steal his neighbor's cat and sell it on Ebay
> because it makes simple financial sense.

A critical difference is that stealing and selling the cat puts you
liable to police and civil prosecution, as well as fraud charges from
EBay and any related financial services.  That's a pretty chunky risk
and negative value model compared to what I wrote.

A different phrasing might be useful:

  Consider a MUD, say a free MUD with for-pay special services somewhat
  like Achaea.  In this game let's put a pile of keys in a public
  square.  The keys grant access to the various for-pay areas of the
  game, the spiffy content, the l33t l00t etc.  Above the pile of keys
  there's a sign reading, "Keys cost $20 per month.  Send cheques to
  <address>".  This money helps support this game: without it the game
  will go away."  Other than that there's no control on the keys.

I doubt you'd be surprised to find people using the keys who hadn't paid
for them.  Why then China?  The risk is minimal to non-existent, the ROI
is tangible, and the cost is near zero.  They're faced with a choice:
pay $20/month for a key to get the cool stuff, or just pick it up for
free and still get the cool stuff.

This is of course a variant on the MP3/file-sharing argument.  That
debate is still unresolved. I doubt software/access piracy will conclude
much earlier, especially internationally.

-- 
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

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