From: lwl@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Lydia Leong)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.misc,rec.games.mud.tiny
Subject: Re: God Conference on Player's Rights
Date: 7 Jan 93 01:39:46 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.mud.misc
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow

In article <1ierchINN1ib@pith.uoregon.edu> johnm@cajal.uoregon.edu writes:
>My advisor on Singlenesia proposed that a conference be held to gather the
>gods of other muds, and their wizards, to discuss these issues. I believe such
>a conference would be very beneficial, and hereby invite all gods, wizards,
>and other persons who have an effect on the policies of their worlds to attend
>one I am organizing.

You'll never get anything done if you allow ordinary wizards into the
conference -- even presuming that _half_ the gods who run MU*s wanted
to attend, you'd still have a HUGE crowd. Gods only, and I'd recommend
splitting the conference by genre. The "rules" for wizarding on a Tiny
and on a combat-oriented MUD are quite different.

>The goal of the conference will be to draft a general "player's bill of
>rights of sorts. This document would be developed by the attendees and
>will be posted in these newsgroups, along with the names of the gods (and
>their muds) who agree to implement the document in their worlds.
>[ log will be made, gods can sign later, and those who don't sign 
>  encouraged to submit statements explaining why ]

I have several major concerns.

1. The "rights" that can be given to players differ widely from world to
   world. This doesn't just reflect the personal opinions of the admins;
   frequently outside pressures intrude into an administrative style.
   For example, many players seem to think that objects they create
   ought to be private. I frequently hear the complaint, "That was my
   private object and you examined it!"  Well, on a place like PernMUSH,
   where quotas are enforced, object inspection is routine. On many
   MU*s running on academic machines, certain policies, like "no virtual
   drugs" may apply. On an LP-MUD, gods certainly ought to inspect to
   prevent wizards from building areas which unbalance the game. 
   Or, to take another example, "snooping" players, something generally
   considered to be wrong, for a Tiny wizard, is fairly routine on 
   LP-MUDS. The type of MUD strongly influences what can 'ethically'
   be done. The conference definitely needs to be split by MUD type,
   Tiny-based and adventure-based (LP, Diku, etc.)

3. I do not like the idea of a "bill of rights". I can easily picture
   players trying to worm out of wrongdoing by citing chapter and verse
   of such an august document. (Those of you who claim that players
   will follow the spirit of such a document probably haven't dealt with
   the twits who are determined to make jerks of themselves and are
   determined to get away with it by any means possible). I do believe
   that a set of *guidelines* is useful.

3. I believe that most MUD problems can be solved by applying the same
   basic rules of courtesy and decency which one follows in RL. Ninety
   percent of all problems are caused by people who think that just
   because they're a faceless stream of words, normal mores don't apply.
   In a sense, one can sum up a wizard's guidelines by:
     a) Do not lose your temper. (Difficult, but try hard.)
     b) Be just. Let the punishment fit the crime.
     c) Try not to do anything you wouldn't want somebody else to do to you.

4. I have a tendency to dismiss player complaints about "rights" as
   paranoia. Some players just don't seem to understand that wizards
   really don't get any sadistic pleasure from dealing with problem
   players. Others know that the admins of certain places are
   untrustworthy, and continue to play there. I find that the players
   who complain the most about "rights" frequently becomes administrators
   with little regard for such "rights".

5. Under the present system, players have no rights. They have whatever
   courtesies the administrators of the game choose to extend them; on
   certain MU*s this is codified into a stated  set of rules. The courtesies
   which are given vary so widely that I wonder if any conference could
   come up with a uniform set of guidelines.

I view this conference as an interesting idea, but I question its
usefulness.

  -- Amberyl (PernMUSH, etc.) / Polgara (Belgariad)

/~\______________________________________________________________________/~\
|n|       Lydia Leong         | If there is anyone here that I have not  |n|
|~| lwl@eniac.seas.upenn.edu _| offended, I deeply apologize.  -- Brahms |~|
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Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.misc