[MUD-Dev] PVP and perma-death

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

J C Lawrence <claw at kanga.nu> writes:

> A core problem with PVP is relatively simple:

>   Everybody wants to win.

I think it is more complex than that... Not everybody want the fight
in the first place. Some don't want to "win", they want to spank
(humiliate) that asshole. Some don't mind getting killed if their
opponent is has a valid reason for attacking. Some don't mind
getting killed by a friend in a duel. Etc.

> Much of PVP griefer activity breaks that tolerance boundary:

>   "You lost, there's nothing you can do about it, and you're going
>   to lose from here on out.  Deal."

> There's a certain lack of empathy in there, and players like
> empathy.

I think this is closer to the core problem. Fighting and loosing to
someone who despises you or who you think is a complete ass, is not
fun. Fighting and loosing to a friend or someone you admire is
annoying, but can still be lots of fun. I once roleplayed this
aggressive woman and threatened one of my guildies in-character,
then I killed her. She didn't expect it so she didn't really fight
back, but got a good laugh out of it... I suspect, the more
fictional/silly it is, the more acceptable the killing is (to a
mature player). The less fiction and in-game context surrounding the
attack, the more it might be felt as a player-player attack. Kind of
closer to pulling out your ethernet cable than actually playing the
game. I guess you mentioned that in the above discussion... More me
too then.. >D

  (Anyone noticed these new ">D" anime-style baby-smilies? Probably
  a version of "(>_<)".)

--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/
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