From: dburgdor@cwis.unomaha.edu (Darryl Burgdorf)
Subject: Player killing ....
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 14:59:11 GMT


Greetings, all.

To begin with, let me point out that I am NOT opposed to allowing pkilling on
MUDs; in fact, I think it's necessary to encourage REAL roleplaying and
character interaction.  Those who steal from or annoy other players should
have to do so with the knowledge that their victims may well retaliate with
fatal force; likewise, those who take a strong stance in the gameworld for
either good or ill should realize that those who have taken the opposite
stance can and will be gunning for them!

However ....

I fail to understand the logic of those who seem to believe that if a MUD
ALLOWS pkilling, it somehow DEMANDS pkilling.

Two examples:

1)  A high-powered mage makes himself invisible and sits outside the city
gate, casting "instant death" spells on anyone who leaves the city.  (I should
point out that on this particular MUD, levels and other such "game" rather 
than "gameworld" information is not readily visible, so he could not see that
I was only a first level character.  However, if he'd bothered to look at my
equipment, it would have been fairly obvious that I was NOT very experienced.)

2)  On another MUD, I was playing in what was specifically a newbie area.  I
sat down to rest and recover a bit.  Another character came in and sat down.
He looked at me (no doubt seeing both that I was wounded and that I was
carrying nothing of significance).  I said "hello".  He stood up, swung at me
and killed me.  No reason, no provocation.  As my ghost hovered there, unable
to do or say anything, the jerk cackles gleefully and "thanks" me for the
stuff he's now stealing.  (Which, incidentally, was worthless to him, as it
was un-sellable "newbie" equipment.)

Please understand that I am not whining about the above occurances.  I am just
curious as to the mindset that prompts such activies.

In neither case did the other player stand to gain anything -- money or 
experience -- from his actions.  In neither case was there any provocation
for the action:  I had done nothing to annoy them, I had not stolen from them,
I had not in any way aligned myself with an "opposing faction" in the game
world, and had no item which they wanted and had to kill me to get.

In short, the actions were senseless, and served only to destroy what little
advancement I had thusfar made in the game.

As I said before, I do NOT oppose the idea of pkilling, and in fact believe it
to be necessary for truly "realistic" interaction.  However, with the ability
to kill other players should come the responsibility to do so only with
cause.  If the player is not mature enough to do so, then some sort of 
"justice system" within the MUD should be available

Yes, I realize that in the real world, there ARE people who kill senselessly.
However, their numbers are few, and most of us can live our lives safe in the
knowledge that we will never run into one of them.  But in a typical MUD, with
perhaps fifty or sixty players, even ONE such psychopath can seriously impact
the enjoyment of everyone else in the world.  In my first example above, the
mage was positioned outside the city gate that led toward the newbie area and
several areas of higher level; virtually everyone playing the game at the time
was bound to walk through that gate at some point.

Wanton pointless killing of other players, and especially of lower level
characters, gains nothing for the murderer within the game.  And I fail to
see what satisfaction or enjoyment comes from it for the player, outside of
the game.  It does, however, tend to turn people away from the MUDs on which
it occurs, which ultimately cannot be seen as good for anyone.

(And no, I have not left the MUDs on which the events described took place.
I am still playing -- and doing fairly well -- on both.  Others, though, might
well not be so tolerant of such occurrences.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts.  I'm interested in knowing how others think on
these matters.

	Darryl Burgdorf


P.S. -- Before anyone flames me pointlessly, let me emphasize that my use of
the term "psycopath" above was in reference to a CHARACTER who goes around
killing other characters for no reason, and was NOT used in reference to the
PLAYER controlling him or her.  The fact that I PLAY a thief or a mage does
not make ME a thief or a mage; likewise, the fact that you PLAY a psychopath
does not make YOU a psycopath.  Understood?


 /----------------------------------------------------\
 |   dburgdor @unmcvm.unmc.edu or @cwis.unomaha.edu   |
 \----------------------------------------------------/