[MUD-Dev] Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics

[Matt Mihaly]

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003, Chris Holko wrote:
> From: "J C Lawrence" <claw at kanga.nu>

>> Though being exiled does not ban your game account, it is quite
>> likely that if your character was exiled, you would quit the game
>> since we only allow one character per game account. You would
>> basically lose all the progress you've made in the game so far
>> and have to begin entirely anew, which is very discouraging to
>> say the least. Not surprisingly, some players are against the
>> whole idea of the DP ever using the exile power. Some players
>> have theorized that if the DP ever did use the power to exile an
>> enemy, it would be a pyrrhic victory at best since doing so would
>> immediately result in not only in revenge from that enemy's
>> allies but also the general animosity of a playerbase fearful of
>> exile. Thus, it would seem that brinksmanship would be the best
>> strategy, to threaten one's enemies with exile but never quite
>> actually do so.

> I do not like this idea, and I don't think it should have a place
> in any game where people pay money to participate.  I don't see
> how a game developer can justify allowing a player to essentially
> ruin another players game play.  Why not just let them have the
> switch to the server?  This is essentially the ultimate PK.

I can't speak for A Tale In the Desert, but give we players
considerable power over the lives of others, going so far as to
enable them to, for instance, remove a player's class (which he/she
may have effectively paid real money for). The way it works is that
the only way to get a class is to join one of our guilds, all of
which are formed by the admins. Players cannot form guilds without
admin sanctions, and it's a rare event. If you get kicked out of the
guild before a certain point, you lose your class and about half of
what you've put into the skills related to that class.  When players
complain about this happening to them "unfairly" (due to the odd
capricious or rp-nazi guild official) I tell them this:

I'm sorry that this happened to you and I empathize with your
suffering, but I'm afraid that all I can really tell you is that we
operate by the mantra, "You have to break a few eggs to make an
omlette." We try to run our worlds as living, breathing worlds where
your actions have consequences. While some people do become victims
as a result of this policy, we feel that it's better for the game as
a whole to allow players control over as many aspects of the world
as is practical. Remember, you're not just playing a game with other
people; the other people are part of the game.

--matt
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