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On Building And Policing MMO Societies
Thanks to GameSpy for their feature on the history and continued shaping of MMO communities. The article discusses lessons learned from Ultima Online's "growing pains" over conflict resolution ("There was a group known as the Dread Lords who went around attacking other players, decimating the population of entire towns and forcing the developers to change the rules for PvP, which ultimately minimized its role in the game"), and points out that "...subverting developer intentions is a significant part of an MMO, whether for good or ill", referencing The Sims Online Mafia as an example. When should 'authorities' step in, if ever, in massively multiplayer games?
I would be interested in a method that either did away with or greatly reduced the role of experience points. Make the characters more mortal, and if the other players feel the need to handle the situation, they can. No single player could become omnipotent and little to no intervention from an outside party (game admin, etc) would be necessary.
With this solution, players would feel more in control of their destiny. They wouldn't have to cry to an admin to settle problems for them, as they would be able to handle things themselves. The focus of the game would then be the use of ingenuity and problem solving skills, rather than the usual contest to see who can play the longest and level up the most. Focus on the players and the adventures that they have created themselves, not their stats and predetermined storylines.
A player shouldn't be limited to what a game developer intended. I've played many games where I've had more fun inventing my own sub-game or objective than the one that a developer made for me.
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This was mentioned in one of the linked to articles, but I think it's a very valid example of how to deal with misdemeanor in a virtual world.
.hack that is a story about characters playing in a virtual world called... "The World". In this world, there are player killers, which really are able to do whatever they want- but there are also fellow game players which take on the role of the "authority" (Crimson Knights), so it becomes a self-balancing fight between good and evil.
There is an anime called
Obviously this is just a show (about a game), but the concept is still a good one.
You're just mad because the voices in your head talk to me.
Dawn is the definition of the term vaporware... I've been playing the "warm-up" game for about two years now, and Jeff (the admin) has recently quit talking about Dawn at all, when they were almost up to beta testing it 18 months ago.
I tend to agree, though, that some of the problem with MMOGs in general is that they place no stigma on death. You die, you respawn somewhere, you might lose some of your experience or equipment, but nothing too valuable that you can't get back relatively quickly. So people aren't afraid to piss other people off, knowing they'll get killed. This is especially acute in a RP-based MUD like Achaea, where you have almost-daily accounts of people acting like idiots because there's no such thing as perma-death.
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Say you've killed the griefer in the virtual world. What does he care?
(for this I'll define griefing as one or more high-level people killing a low level person, once or repeatedly)
I think this got covered in Snow Crash, where Raven's head got cut off and placed in a case that protected it from the server cleanup, preventing the user from logging on again.
Solving the problem of griefers is probably an extremely difficult task. I've been thinking of a few ideas that may or may not work...
First would be Jail. If you're caught killing someone with a large level difference below you, you're thrown in jail by very powerful guards who keep you there for (yourLV-theirLV) hours of playtime. Or you can opt for a level reduction (say you lose half the levels between here and there) instead. It reduces the time between griefing incidents, as either the character is stuck in jail, or the character has to spend time re-levelling.
A second idea I had, which sort of requires you to not be squicky on religion, would be the idea of gods and demons inside the world, which your characters are aligned with. PKing would decrease your alignment with the gods and increase it with the demons, which could get you cool powers, but also net you various weaknesses (perhaps changing your character into an undead creature with all the weaknesses that entails). The gods could then consider newbies as being "under their protection" and simply prevent griefing kills, in whatever way seems best to the storyline (whether they just shield the character from damage, or come down from the heavens and smite the griefer in a huge display of power...)
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Elaborating on what I said elsewhere.
What do you do in real life when the average person is unable to legally stop criminals from performing crimes? Elevate some people to above-average status, with legal enforcement powers granted, and let them deal with the problem.
The ability to throw an avatar into a featureless 'jail' room for an amount of login time (not a week of real time; the avatar must be logged in and active for the amount of time of the sentance; 24 hours means being logged in sitting in 10x10 grey room for 24 hours, not logging in a day later) would certainly stop the 'joyriders' or casual greifers.
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