[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  7 Jul 98, S. Patrick Gallaty wrote:
> From: Jon A. Lambert <jlsysinc at ix.netcom.com>
> 
> > How do you both define self-governance on muds?
> > The absence of administration interference?  Or something else?
> 
> I think he means governance in the classic sense -
> Not 'government' so much as 'governance' which implies that the system
> is designed to throttle undesirable behaviour and events through
> affordances rather than intervention.
> 
> Intervention is not a scalable solution.
> 

I think there are three distinct categories of mud governance.

1) System governance - This would be the mechanical "throttles and 
affordances" builtin into game mechanics.  Server or game system 
coding that places limits and restrictions on player actions.  

2) Administrator governance - Intervention by "trusted" individuals 
to enforce game system policies.  Usually it's a responsive activity 
to violations after the fact.  It also can be in an adjucative role 
during the course of gameplay.

3) Player governance - Enforcement of "rules of conduct" or 
resolution of in-game conflicts, through social sanction or force 
using mechanisms provided by the mud server. 

Most muds make use of blends of all three mechanisims in some form or 
another.

I assume that self-governance refers to extending the capabilities of 
Player governance.  It's the nature of these "posited" mechanisms 
that interests me.  :)

Are these mechanisms available equally to every player on the system?
Are they only available to group formations of players?
To what extent do they range into what may have been traditionally 
considered administrator territory?  (For instance, can a user group 
"ban" another user from server access via a mechanism)
Or are such mechanisms limited to in-game counterparts to real world 
constructs? (Like police forces, legal systems, etc.)

etc...


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