[MUD-Dev] Decision making...

[Jason Messer]

On Sep 14, 2004, at 12:18 AM, Mike Rozak wrote:

> A further question arises: Are griefers attracted to VWs because
> they are semi-autistic or sociopaths that have already been
> ostricised by their current tribe/clan in the real world?

I think that VWs are about as likely as any semi-anonymous Internet
service to attract griefers - mostly because such a setting lacks
the consequences of the real world.

I don't believe that habitual griefers act the way they do because
of fairness or lack of empathy, I'd say that griefer play is its own
reward to such players. Many of them are failed leaders and
controlling another players game experience (by ruining it) or
leading a gang of griefers is as close as they can get to being an
actual leader. In a mailing list or news group they would be a
troll, in office politics they would be a malicious gossip and
backstabber.

As a player I've found the best way to handle griefers is to ignore
them - sometimes they mature past the stage they are at, but I'm not
gonna babysit them while they grow up. As a designer you cannot
ignore them, you can do your best to prevent them from having the
power over other players that they crave.
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