<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding? --> <!--X-From-R13: pynjerapNphc.uc.pbz --> <!--X-Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 22:44:23 +0000 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199708112242.PAA02729#xsvr3,cup.hp.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 199708011734.KAA21469#animal,blarg.net --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00470.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00473.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00326.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00477.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00471">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00471">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00471">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</A></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 11 Aug 97 15:32:20 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-to</em>: <A HREF="mailto:claw#null,net">claw#null,net</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> In <<A HREF="msg00325.html">199708011734.KAA21469#animal,blarg.net</A>>, on 08/01/97 at 10:42 AM, "Brandon Van Every" <vanevery#blarg,net> said: >Anonymity. That's an interesting notion. I wonder if partial >anonymity is a precondition to the worlds I imagine. Most MUD taboos >are about the fear of your persona being subverted/destroyed. >Psychically, people really hate it when you screw with their sense of >self. But no persona, no fear? My approach to this is to make anonymity implicit. Bodies and characters and accounts (humans) are severely seperated in the game model. There was some decent discussion of this earlier: --<cut>-- From: "Chris Lawrence" <clawrenc#xsvr1,cup.hp.com> Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 12:53:16 -0700 Subject: Re: a bunch of stuff.. ;) > From: S001GMU#nova,wright.edu > Subject: Re: a bunch of stuff.. ;) > >Actually the whole reason I came up with the feature was that I wanted > >the extra complexity of allowing the names user to be using-player > >defined. I thought that the whole idea of the name set not being > >unique _or_ constant over the MUD would be delightful. Additionally > >the requirement for character names to be unique, MUD-wide seems > >incredibly artificial and tailored solely for the ease of the > >programmers. > > the only problem I have with adding this feature is that you can run > into some very serious RL problems. A while back some friends and I > were thinking about a disguise spell and we went through this topic. > should we let people assume the description of another PC? eventually > we decided that, as silly as it sounds, such things could result in an > invasion of privacy and/or harassment. A name is just a name, but when > it's all you have to go by, it becomes something much more than it is > in RL. Yes, it would be neet ot watch as people people become confused > as to who they are talking about, but I think it's too much of a > double-edged sword for my tastes. The classic example used in these cases is the Lambda MOO rape. In highly simplistic terms, a rogue user manufactured robots which looked and operated exactly as if they were real players in the game. He then, via remote control of those robots, made them commit various, err, unnatural(?) acts, much to the displeasure of the players they were pretending to be. The LambdaMOO rape case is also probably the most studied and well documented (tho the documentation can be surprisingly difficult to find) of MUD-World social justice systems in action. I thought about this quite a bit when I came up with the name concept, but decided that it was not innately applicable for a couple fundamental reasons: 1) The LambdaMOO rape case was dependant on the fact that the ID's manipulated in the "crime" had no reasonable expectation that they might be opaquely mis-represented or forged. 2) Most (all?) MUDs currently define names are unique and inextricably bound to their owners. The fact of this equation leads to strong identification and symbolisms wrapped on the name alone. Simple evidence of this can be seen in the players who use the same ID's on every game they play, and are disgruntled if they find another player has already taken the name. If those two equations were explicitly broken for a given MUD, such that the concept of a "name" was inextricably virtual, I don't see that anything similar could still, supportably, happen. The result is that the concept of identity in the MUD world becomes very amorphous. Look at it from the player's perspective: He logs in: He enters his account and password. He is presented with a list of characters he has created. If it is his first ever login, he can create a character to now play instead. He choses a character to play. Possibly he enters a character-unique password. He is now playing. He can see no names for other player's characters. Other players have no evidence he is playing any specific character. All they know is that a specific account is logged in. If he wants to talk to another player, he must either assign them a name, or he must use a general tag, such as "human" or "troll" which happens to uniquely match their general description in his current location. Nobody knows who he is. Until he forms a social relationship, he has no social context within the game. He can tell other's what he would like to be called, but has no ability to enforce that request. He has no idea what names others have assigned to him, or even that any names have been assigned. Rather than a double-edge sword, I see this as just removing the entire mechanism on which both the "crime" and the identification-with-ID rests. Sometimes I think of it as namespace castration... ... --<cut>-- -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net (Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------------(*) Internet: clawrenc#cup,hp.com ...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00325" HREF="msg00325.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> "Brandon Van Every" <vanevery#blarg,net></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00470.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00473.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Graphic MUDS/Ultima Online</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00326.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00477.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00471"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00471"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Nation of shopkeepers</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00380" HREF="msg00380.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Nation of shopkeepers</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Tue 05 Aug 1997, 00:20 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00324" HREF="msg00324.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, Brandon Van Every <a href="mailto:vanevery#blarg,net">vanevery#blarg,net</a>, Fri 01 Aug 1997, 14:04 GMT <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00325" HREF="msg00325.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, Brandon Van Every <a href="mailto:vanevery#blarg,net">vanevery#blarg,net</a>, Sat 02 Aug 1997, 00:34 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00326" HREF="msg00326.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sat 02 Aug 1997, 01:30 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00471" HREF="msg00471.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Mon 11 Aug 1997, 22:44 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00477" HREF="msg00477.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, Jeff Kesselman <a href="mailto:jeffk#tenetwork,com">jeffk#tenetwork,com</a>, Mon 11 Aug 1997, 23:24 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00321" HREF="msg00321.html">DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Fri 01 Aug 1997, 09:25 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00323" HREF="msg00323.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Fri 01 Aug 1997, 13:30 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00470" HREF="msg00470.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] DESIGN: The purpose of MUDding?</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Mon 11 Aug 1997, 22:31 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>