[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Consensus and control [was: What is a game? (again)]

[cruise]

Thus spake Caliban Darklock...
> Most modern game problems, the interesting ones at least, turn out to
> be social problems. The question is not so much "how can I make a game
> that doesn't have this problem", but "how can I make a game that
> RESISTS this problem". Resistance is not just about prevention, but
> also awareness and acceptance.

Indeed. One of the reasons I've given for moving away from the "massive" 
bit of MMOG's. There's less chance of consensus being lost.

> I disagree, largely with the term "best". You're implying that a game
> which is difficult to disrupt is necessarily better than a game which
> is easy to disrupt, and I don't think that's true. I believe there are
> extremes of easy and difficult to disrupt, but I don't believe either
> of those extremes is optimal. Indeed, I think different positions
> along that continuum are optimal for different types of players,
> different types of play, and different revenue models.

Have you examples of disruption that aren't "bad" for a game? This is an 
interesting way of classifying gameplay that hadn't occurred to me before.

> A sandbox game has its own problems, most remarkably the lack of
> direction. Lack of direction is frequently responsible for the most
> egregious breaches of consensus. I also think there is a significant
> tendency for the players themselves to alter your game's position on
> the continuum; even in a sandbox game, the players define social norms
> of what can and cannot be "legally" done.

The best demonstration of this, is of course, "life". There are all 
sorts of social memes in effect, sometimes backed up by enforced 
penalties. There's no consesus yet, so why should we expect it in game? 
If game designers ever solve this problem, the world will become a very 
interesting place...

> I'm primarily interested in
> understanding how this continuum works and where the balance of power
> lies. What circumstances permit most of this power to lie with the
> game's operator? What circumstances give most of it to the players?
> What are the other implications of these circumstances?

The power the game's operator has is primarily within the setting or 
lifting of rules. The fewer rules, the more the power rests with the 
playerbase.

The implications of those choices are far more interesting...