[MUD-Dev] SOC: Will company sanctioned cheating hurt the MMOcommunity?

[Jaycen Rigger]

Chris Richards <doktorstick at gmail.com> wrote:

> Does this extend to strategy guides?  Fan sites?  Have you used a
> fan site to lookup how to solve a quest, find an NPC, or see the
> drop rate for a specific item?  In the most rigid of definitions,
> these actions would be considered cheating, yet people do not seem
> to have a problem with getting out-of-game information (in
> general).  Instead of purchasing items, the player is purchasing
> information--hard currency for strategy guides and advertisements,
> site fees, or "research time" for online information.  Whatever
> the case, you are most definitely "profiting by the labors of
> others".

I agree.  It extends to those sites if they provide the information
needed to "beat" some part of the game.  For instance, there are
strategy sites that are just that, strategy.  They do not divulge
the uber-secret "trick" to beating that part of the game.  Those
sites might list 3 or 4 possible ways to increase your ability to
get through the game.  In that instance, you are not cheating.

> As for a "level playing field", it changes immediately after a
> character is created.  Some players are more knowledgeable about
> the game or the genre, have more time to spend leveling or getting
> uber-loot, etc.  If one player is more "time rich, money poor"
> than other players, why shouldn't the person who is "time poor,
> money rich" be able to make up for it by purchasing items for real
> currency?  Feel free to substitute "time" with "information", too.

I see your point, and it does stop me for a moment.  I think the
difference is that the person who "has the edge" when it comes to
the game or genre simply by virtue of "knowing something" hasn't
gained that knowledge outside the game.  That person has seniority
within the game by virtue of his experience.  What experience is
gained by the person who buys his way through the game?

I think it's the difference between some guy who blows $75 for a
whiz-bang doo-hickie and a guy who actually found the whiz-bang
doo-hickie on the monster at the bottom of level 9 of the Dungeon of
Doom.  The former can say, "Lookie what I got."  The later can say,
"Dude! Remember when we both almost DIED that one night at the end
of the Dungeon of Doom?  Oh man, that was such a blast, and I
TOTALLY earned this bad-ass whiz-bang doo-hickie!"

Requiring players to actually play the game to acquire wealth and
power means the players are more likely to have some common
adventures....talking points they can share and re-tell at a later
time.  The other guys only have a receipt to whip out, which
probably isn't in context, anyway...

> FWIW, I have not and in the foreseeable future will not be
> purchasing items, but I do use fansites on occasion.

It's okay man.  I'm not the role-play nazi "no role-play for you,
two weeks!"

Jaycen Rigger
  http://holisticworlddesign.blogspot.com/
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