[MUD-Dev2] [MUD-Dev] [REPOST] Griefing

[John Buehler]

Nicholas Koranda writes:

> * Original Poster:  Brian "Ayavaron" Ross

> I just finished reading an issue of Escapist Magazine
> (http://www.theescapistmagazine.com/) that dealt with the topic of
> griefers.  The topic was thoroughly analyzed and explored throughout
> the article, but it leaves one with the question, "What do you do
> about it?"

Designers have attempted to create rule sets for gameplay that are as
general as possible.  They've tried to create as large a playground as
possible, with as much variety in it as possible.  Ultima Online was a great
example of this; folks could behave just like ordinary people.  The problem
with that approach was that the players were on such long leashes that they
figured out how to hang each other with them.

More recent games have put players on a much shorter leash because griefers
are so good at making hangman's knots.

Most recently, we've seen instancing.  I believe that instancing holds a
solution to griefing.  I believe that primarily because the people who enter
an instance tend to be of a similar mindset.  This is particularly true of
raids.  An entire guild goes on a raid together.  If raid griefing were
possible, what better place to grief than in the middle of a guild
nail-biter against a horde of elite monsters?  Even guild members who cannot
maintain the pace of a raid tend to be generally ostracized (however
gently).  A griefer would be ejected in the blink of an eye, never to be
invited back.

Instances are self-policing, which is the key.  The players themselves have
a simple way to ensure that their preferences are upheld: they don't invite
the griefer.  In games where everything happens in the commons, griefers
have implicit permission to do anything they want to anyone they want.
Instances require explicit permission.

As an aside, I'll observe that instances offer an opportunity for the
designers to let players go out on extremely long leashes again.  Every
variation of gameplay can be tolerated because players will choose the
variation that they want.  If they want to remain in the commons, they can
play by the generic rules.  But if they want to play rules of permadeath,
roleplaying, elite fighter-mages, burnable buildings, etc., then it all
becomes sociologically possible.  Technically, it remains a challenge, but
once on the road, I know that the problems will be solved.

Imagine two guilds that want to go to war with each other.  The rules that
they agree to say that the war instance requires roughly equivalent forces,
that members can enter only between certain hours each day, that all
encounters are permadeath, and that there are no indigenous monsters to deal
with.  It's a wargame with a fantasy twist - and nobody can grief up their
encounters.

This style of play brings up issues of its own, but there's no need to
discuss them in a thread devoted to griefing.  The gist of the solution is
to get like-minded players together so that they can not only deal with
griefers themselves, but also play their favorite variation of gameplay
beyond the limits normally imposed by games that have to defend so
vehemently against griefers.

JB