<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths --> <!--X-From-R13: "Ybfgre, Dncu" <exbfgreNbevtva.rn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 07:53:56 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 11A17AA2B9EAD111BCEA00A0C9B41793EDBDC7#forest,origin.ea.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.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="msg01190.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01192.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg01126.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01196.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#01191">Author</A> | <A HREF="#01191">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#01191">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:51:12 -0500</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> Related to this topic, I recently got a letter from a UO player who has been reading some of my writings on muds (including excerpts from mud-dev) who badly misinterpreted something I said. Below is his email and my response to him... start quote--- > Raph: > > Continuing in my reading, I turn now to the above subject. > > I must agree with you that most people have no sense of the > reality that > there is someone on the other end of the connection. They > play with pure > impunity knowing that nothing in RL can happen to them, and > therefore they > are as mean as they can be. > > I took agree that this only shows the truest form in RL of > that player. > For example, when someone in UO attacks without reason or > cause, attacks a > newbie, or just cuz they can, it shows their total lack of respect for > anyone else not just in the virtual world, but in real life. > Although in > real life they may mask thier dis-respect with a smile and a > laugh, and > since there would be real penalties to pay, then they only > think of what > they would like to do in thier mind. On the meanness issue: I take exception to your statement that it just reveals that these people are requally mean in real life. Usually they aren't. The level of meanness we see in virtual spaces approaches the sociopathic in real life. But sociopathy is often casually defined as a total lack of empathy for other human beings. The vast majority of people are not actually sociopathic. This is what led me to coin the term "virtually sociopathic"--meaning people who cannot seem to reach that level of empathy with others who are sharing a virtual space. It does NOT reflect on their dealings in real life, where they may indeed be thoroughly empathic and caring. Rather, it means that because their inhibitions are lowered by anonymity and perhaps by the lack of physical cues, and because the other people in the environment are more easily objectified, and because they are able to present themselves as a person divorced from their true identity and therefore are better able to engage in actions which their normal persona could not bring themselves to do--they act sociopathic *within the virtual context*. Without being so really. (Long parenthetical note: it's long been known that people are less inhibited over the phone than in person, and people are now aware that they are less inhibited in email than on the phone, and I believe they are less inhibited in muds than on email. It's interesting to me that at each stage you lose crucial identifiers of personality for the person with whom you interact: by stages we remove physical cues such as expression, smell, etc; then we lose the voice and its emotional content; then we lose even the unique address and identity and sense of individuality in the person with whom we are interacting. This is not dissimilar to how much easier it is to kill people in uniforms, have a one-night stand with someone you hardly know, act witty and daring at a costume party, or get unbelievably rude with someone on a call-in radio show...) This leads to an interesting conclusion for mud design--penalties won't solve your playerkiller problem. Helping them gain empathy will. ---end quote Anyone got a handy-dandy set of tactics for this? :) Classic ones are general community building ones, but these don't necessarily target your troublemaking population. I have an essay on community building tools at <A HREF="http://mud.sig.net/raph/gaming/essay6.html">http://mud.sig.net/raph/gaming/essay6.html</A> but none of them seem REALLY aimed at empathy-building. -Raph </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01190.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Ugh, IS Diablo a mud?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01192.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01126.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01196.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#01191"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#01191"><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>[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="01080" HREF="msg01080.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Matthew R. Sheahan <a href="mailto:chaos#crystal,palace.net">chaos#crystal,palace.net</a>, Sun 20 Sep 1998, 00:04 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="01083" HREF="msg01083.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, quzah [sotfhome] <a href="mailto:quzah#softhome,net">quzah#softhome,net</a>, Sun 20 Sep 1998, 16:27 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01088" HREF="msg01088.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Mon 21 Sep 1998, 15:20 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01126" HREF="msg01126.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Wed 23 Sep 1998, 05:38 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01191" HREF="msg01191.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 14:53 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01196" HREF="msg01196.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 18:36 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01197" HREF="msg01197.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 18:53 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01199" HREF="msg01199.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 21:11 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01281" HREF="msg01281.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>, Damion Schubert <a href="mailto:zjiria#texas,net">zjiria#texas,net</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 21:26 GMT </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>