<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game" --> <!--X-From-R13: Oqnz Ivttvaf <nqnzNnatry.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 11:44:19 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: Pine.SGI.3.96.991110112810.16600C-100000#zazu,angel.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 01BF2B00.C9EE5F60.charles.hughes#bigfoot,com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:adam#angel,com"> </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="msg00176.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00181.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00166.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00178.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00177">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00177">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00177">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</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>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game" </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Adam Wiggins <<A HREF="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 11:48:54 -0800 (PST)</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#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> Charles Hughes wrote: > J C Lawrence wrote: > > Who defines "normal" and "proper"? On what metrics are they > > defined? > > > > I have been subjected to two different disruptive player attacks: > > > a) one character who was a newbie went around trying to screw with > > > people's triggers (he managed to screw with mine which really > > > pissed me off when the gods decided that was okay to do). > > > > Interestingly enough I would considr both the above actions quite > > acceptable. If you decide to isntall automations ofn your > > character, Caveat Emptor, > > It seems to me that the same argument can be made of abusing a game > bug. Let's look at this from another angle. Here's a real life story from my own mudding glory days, in an abbridged version to keep from boring anyone. There was a fellow who was considered by most to be the most powerful on the mud. Specifically, he was somehow beta-testing an otherwas unavailible class (blood mage, I think) which was extremely powerful. He often took to bragging about his power, which I found pretty annoying, so I took any oportunity I could to (subtlely) screw with him - subtle meaning he rarely knew that I was insulting him, but most everyone else on the mud who was listening in caught on. My favorite of these occassions was when I was standing in the standard diku area of the Haon-Dor forest. It was well known that he liked to show off his 'portal' spell (which only he had). So I shouted, "Hey <the guy's character name>, portal to me". So he does. The room was the one just beneath the trees where 'west' leads to a DT (death trap) - most anyone that has played any diku mud with this zone for more than about a week should know about it. I said, "Hey, go west" and then took off (going east, of course). Thirty seconds later I hear a shout: "<my character name>, you ASSHOLLE!!1!" What's the point of this story? I was directly responsible for someone's death, and I caused it for no other reason than that I didn't like them and just wished to "harrass" them, if you will. I took advantage of something I knew about them (their pride and their gullibility) to cause that to happen without directly attacking them. Is this different from taking advantage of someone's triggers? If so, how? The gods did not intervene - should the guy have complained that the mud rules did not specifically say that pride and gullibility were not specifically banned in the rules? > If the admins don't want automations, they should explicitly state so. Well, this is true. I've had gods screw with my triggers before; when I ask whether clients are allowed or not, they say that they are, but they just don't like them. This sort of policy just makes the admin seem childish. Now, in my case, I don't particularly like needing to use a client, so I wrote my mud in such a way that it's not really necessary. (And when I test it, I always use raw telnet to make sure that that remains the case.) If someone wants to, I'm certainly not going to "mess with" their triggers. But if another player takes advantage of poorly-written triggers to hurt their character, I have no problem with that. As far as I (and the admin as a whole) are concerned, actions generated by your client are no different from actions generated by your own two fingers typing at the keyboard. > > > b) one or more characters who PK in a quite obviously non-PK area and > > > again the gods refused to intervene. How were PK and non-PK areas defined? Was PK physically possible in non-PK areas, or did you get a "You can't attack players here..." message? What makes it "obviously" not a PK area? > > Were the game to have support for funny bones, and the same newbie > > ran about striking people on their funny bones causing them to drop > > all they were carrying while chatting in the pub... Would that be > > an abuse? > > Beats me, depends on what the admins said. It's a rather absurd > example since it doesn't actually pose any question. If the funny > bone was programmed in, and it is not a game bug, then it would > seem to not be an abuse to hit people on the funny bone. Perhaps you should expand on what bug(s) this person abused. I tend to be leery of accusations of cheating through undefined bug abuse. he Shriners were accused of cheating through bug abuse for the five solid years that they (we) were the "top" PK clan on Arctic, but I never once saw any evidence of any cheating. Furthermore, I knew the people in the clan well enough to know that they were not the sort to cheat, even if they had the oportunity to. But it didn't matter - since we/they did so consistently well for so long, people just couldn't believe that it was something other than skill, hard work, or luck. > My original point still stands - disconnecting or disciplining an > abusive player immediately prevents more widespread abuse. Generally true. However, determining what is an "abusive" player is the tough part. In my opinion, only the admin can make that decision; players at the wrong end of the PK stick often feel "abused", whether or not any real defiance of the game rules occured. _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </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="00178" HREF="msg00178.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins <adam#angel,com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00166" HREF="msg00166.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Charles Hughes <charles.hughes#bigfoot,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00176.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00181.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00166.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00178.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00177"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00177"><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>Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00172" HREF="msg00172.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 19:11 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00173" HREF="msg00173.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#cp,net">claw#cp,net</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 19:21 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00179" HREF="msg00179.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 20:07 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00166" HREF="msg00166.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Charles Hughes <a href="mailto:charles.hughes#bigfoot,com">charles.hughes#bigfoot,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 18:17 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00177" HREF="msg00177.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 19:44 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00178" HREF="msg00178.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 20:07 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00180" HREF="msg00180.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 20:07 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00188" HREF="msg00188.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Philip Loguinov -- Draymoor <a href="mailto:fibhufky#erols,com">fibhufky#erols,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 21:26 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00191" HREF="msg00191.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] players who "take away from the game"</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 10 Nov 1999, 21:54 GMT </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>