<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths --> <!--X-From-R13: Vny Pynpx <unyNzbbf.zy.bet> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 13:46:37 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 19980918170515.13652#moos,ml.org --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg01062.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01064.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg01281.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01066.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#01063">Author</A> | <A HREF="#01063">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#01063">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Hal Black <<A HREF="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org">hal#moos,ml.org</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 17:05:15 -0400</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> I'd like to offer some discussion as to how to deal with part of the Marian's Tailor problem: how does a tailor enjoy tailoring life without having to deal with a disproportionate number of psychopathic characters? For discussion puprposes, I'd like to define a psychopath as a person whose actions are governed by the desire to achieve pleasure by causing other players displeasure without an in-game justification. I'm also assuming that the game has some sort of universe model where characters can experience contention over resources and have game-engine arbitrated conflicts. I also assume that psychopathic behavior is considered a "bad" and roleplaying and character development is a "good". Due in large part to the anonymity of the internet, and arguably the demographic of its denizens, there are a lot of people who enjoy making other people's lives miserable. It's been my experience that with some localised exceptions on roads near the U.S east coast and in government offices everywhere, the concentration of such is higher on online games than in real life. Whatver you do, it's a good bet that one of these players will show up in your game at some point. Then the question becomes, how can your protect the good players and the interesting gameflow from these players? Unfortunately, I believe that you cannot. The problem would be trivial if it was possible to identify the troublemakers a priori, but short of having a full-time psychic on your staff, this certainly cannot be done. So given that psychopathic annoyances cannot wholely be stopped, what are some possible ways to curb this behavior to a small enough scale so that the administration can address it? 1. Allow the psychopaths to be psychopaths. Let the player play an ork or a goblin chieftain. This certainly helps with the identification problem. Also, it helps the game a lot in that law-abiding citizens can have more intelligent evil enemies to fight (heh, maybe more intelligent... Let's just say more variety in enemies... 8'). 2. Mostly Safe cities. As has been mentioned before, safe cities are a pretty good idea. Certainly there will be creative means for killing, but it is possible (yet nontrivial) to code an engine that can trace the flow back to the perpetrator for many cases. In a safe city, any odd actions by players should attract the automated city guard, "Why hello there, goodman. I couldn't help but notice you digging a rather deep hole here in the middle of the street. The cemetery is down the street, I'm sure I could help you on your way." More overt action such as burning down buildings, exploding powder-kegs and so forth will certainly have you hanging from the gallows. Some safer cities might also have guards and dogs at the entrances and exits so that no contraband can be brought into a city. Also, presumably beasts and demons won't be wandering around in a city, so the tailor is safe from the folks from part 1. 3. Detailed Social Constructs. This has been mentioned some and goes hand-in-hand with safe cities. What if the tailor wants to be a tailor but not worry about security, leasing a lot, repairs for the building, kickbacks to the local politician, or what have you? In real life, my cousin is a designer, and she doesn't worry about any of this stuff, she just deals with clients and does designs. How does she manage this Herculean feat? Well, she is not self-employed, she works at someone's shop. Why shouldn't muds have the same opportunities in place? This makes things more fun for the good roleplayer, and can isolate the tailor from some the nastier details of both business and unsavory characters. This one goes beyond the pschopath issue, protecting the tailor from more typical (and perhaps legit, in-character) trouble-makers so that the tailor can have fun tailoring. Some Caveats: 1. Not all the fish will bite at this opportunity. The more clever psychos will play humans to cause havoc. But hopefully it will divert some borderline psychos to constructive violent behavior. !!!! 8') 2. There is a great problem in totally safe cities as opposed to mostly safe cities. What happens when someone really does deserve a bruising? In a safe city, it will be very difficult to work them over, though there might be a good reason. A typical example is a newbie character mouthing off to the crime boss of a town, which I have seen often on the muds I play. Obviously, this is either extremely stupid, or extremely out of character. Typically, some stalking ensues, until the dumb newbie makes a mistaken turn down a dark street and gets his throat slit. In a totally safe area, this wouldn't be possible. Either some "mysterious force" or insta-popup invincible guards would show up, either way it would be undesirable in a world where you want player to be responsible for their actions. Some players will also inevitably slip through the cracks in the game, coming up with ever-more-ingenious ways to kill other players. You have to understand that this is an extremely fun thing for players to do. And just like real life police are always cracking down on new methods of thievery, so must the city guard adjust to this in the same way. This is obviously an area of subtlely that will take a lot of attention, playtesting, and ajustment. The trick is to create an environment that prevents uninteresting psychopathic behavior, but allows intrigue and lots of interaction between characters. By placing substantial obstacles in front of players to commit psychopathic behavior, you will be able to limit the number of psychopaths who can do real damage to a small number of learned and skilled veteran players. These players can in turn be monitored by the admins and asked to leave if need be. Of course, I haven't had a chance to implement any of this so it's all conjecture at this point. 8') Hopefully it can inspire some ideas if nothing else. Hal </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01066" HREF="msg01066.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins <adam#angel,com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01062.html">[MUD-Dev] MOSIX: Multi-computer Operating System for unIX</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01064.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: clients anyone?...</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01281.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01066.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#01063"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#01063"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="01196" HREF="msg01196.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 18:36 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01197" HREF="msg01197.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 18:53 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01199" HREF="msg01199.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 21:11 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01281" HREF="msg01281.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Damion Schubert <a href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 21:26 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01063" HREF="msg01063.html">[MUD-Dev] Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Hal Black <a href="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org">hal#moos,ml.org</a>, Fri 18 Sep 1998, 20:46 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01066" HREF="msg01066.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Fri 18 Sep 1998, 22:16 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01069" HREF="msg01069.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Sat 19 Sep 1998, 01:15 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01089" HREF="msg01089.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Mon 21 Sep 1998, 23:10 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01090" HREF="msg01090.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Jo Dillon <a href="mailto:emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk">emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk</a>, Tue 22 Sep 1998, 08:18 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>