[MUD-Dev] Circular Alignment [was: Alignment]

[Christopher Allen]

The classic good/evil, lawful/chaotic is not the only way to go. Take DartMUD,
which is a circle.

>From telnet:dartmud.com:2525 :

HELP ALIGNMENT

Alignment:  Every intelligent creature has a Belief.  This belief is represent-
ed by a position on the circle of beliefs:

               War/aggression
                   ....
  Destruction .....    .....     Passion/optimism
           ...              ...
          .                    .
          .         0          .
          .                    .
           ...              ...
 Death/       .....    .....   Life/Renewal
   fatalism        ....
                   Peace/calm

There are three primary belief systems:  fatalism, renewal, and
aggression, with a major Deity ascribed to each.  There are three major
opposites:  passion (opposite fatalism), destruction (opposite renewal),
and peace (opposite aggression).

A belief is denoted by a position on the circle, which consists of (a)
the distance from the center (called "exceptionality"), and (b) number
of degrees from zero (called "alignment").

Note that there is a natural progression/cycle of belief systems on the
circle.  Fatalism leads to calm, which leads to psychological renewal,
which leads to passion, which leads to war, which leads to destruction,
which leads to despair/fatalism.  In fact, beliefs "decay" in just this
way over time (in mortals); the alignment precesses counterclockwise,
and exceptionality diminishes.

Every living creature has an adjust_alignment() function.  When you
perform an act which is typical of a belief (picking a lock is an act of
Mischief, which falls between Passion and War; killing a monster is an
act of belief opposite to the belief of the monster, tinged by
Destruction.  So for example killing a Destructive monster is an act of
Renewal, tinged by the fact that killing is basically a destructive act),
your alignment is adjusted by that belief.

* Examples.  An exceptionally extreme Pacifist picks a lock.  This is
Mischievous, and thus he becomes slightly less Pacifistic, and a touch
more Passionate.  Or:  an extremely Destructive player kills a mildly
Renewal-believing creature.  This doesn't affect the player's beliefs.

A quick question-and-answer session follows, in which I answer questions
I made up, which is a heck of a lot easier than answering real
questions:

Q.  How is this implemented?
A.  I favor a polar coordinate system.  R is the exceptionality, theta
    is the alignment.  It may be reasonable to have a three-dimensional
    system instead, with the dimensions being Aggression, Fatalism, and
    Renewal.

Q.  What is the purpose of the belief system?
A.  It's a way of going out on a limb.  Gods have beliefs, and in order
    to get along with your God, you'd damn well better have the same
    beliefs...

Q.  What does the player get out of beliefs?
A.  Certainly not extra experience, or anything silly like that.  No,
    just divine recognition, friendliness from certain monsters, and a
    special title for the extremes of each alignment (the Warlord, the
    Destroyer, the Pacifist, the Reverent, the Romantic, the
    Disillusioned).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
.. Christopher Allen                                 Skotos Tech Inc. ..
..                           1512 Walnut St., Berkeley, CA 94709-1513 ..
.. <http://www.Skotos.net>               o510/649-4030  f510/649-4034 ..




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