Drug Addiction Integrated Into Achaea MUD

An anonymous reader writes "The text-based MUD Achaea, one of Iron Realms Entertainment's games, has introduced an addictive drug called gleam into its world, during a plot involving a wide-ranging crime ring. On discovery, a number of players, eager for a new experience, took enough gleam to become immediate addicts, leading to head-twitching, speed-talking druggies polluting the land here and there. Several player cities have already outlawed the drug, and there are some very sorry addicts going through a painful withdrawal that can last up to 25 hours of playing time. It'll be interesting to see if anyone considers the tangible benefit (increased dexterity) that one gets worth the heavy cost of the drug on both the character's bank account and on the player's psyche. At least one real-life recovering addict has used the in-game forums to loudly object to the introduction of gleam."

Comments

Sweet

[Thyamine]

Now I can be addicted to a game and IN the game at the same time.. How progressive =)

He's protesting?

[cloak42]

At least one real-life recovering addict has used the in-game forums to loudly object to the introduction of gleam.

That's odd. It seems to me that looking at the effects of a drug on a fake world to see what might happen is a very interesting sociological experiment. It's hard to produce real-world effects in a static model, if only for the fact that people tend to do unpredictable things. But stick a drug with real effects (and benefits and detriments, just like a real drug) into a world run by diverse peoples, and you just might see a mirroring of real-world behavior regarding it.

It's interesting that cities have banned the drug; I would've thought something like that wouldn't be controlled at a governmental level in a MUD. I wonder if the drug actually forces the user to do things he/she wouldn't want to do, such as kill somebody or steal from them in order to get enough money to buy more gleam. If that's the case, it's more understandable why cities would want to keep it away from their walls. I'm also assuming that this MUD is PK-able?

I think this is cool. But then again, I've always preferred that art imitate life.

Uhhhhh, no.

[Crash Culligan]

Like the woman that had her kids taken way because she wouldn't stop playing everquest.

I hope my city illegalizes RPGs

I've found that RPGs can be an excellent source of entertainment and socialization, when played in moderation. Your city should just ban stupid people.

So many of the world's problems could be solved if we could separate the intellectual wheat from the chaff, so to speak: those people who can't differentiate fantasy from reality, or who are prone to getting hooked on whatever "big thing" that comes along, be it drugs, alcohol, pornography, roleplaying games, or tax legislation.

Those people who can't handle reality should be pulled out of it and treated like the children they are. They're giving the rest of us a bad name. If they can't tell fantasy from reality, we shouldn't let them watch television. And if they're terminally gullible, they probably shouldn't be allowed to vote; politicians can be tricky.

I'd vote technocrat, only I've got nobody to vote for.

already been done...

[shepuk]

The non-combat MMORPG A Tale in the Desert has an extremely interesting game mechanic built around drug addiction... there's a potion in the game - called "Speed of the Serpent" - that gives the user a very beneficial boost to their abilities... but with a catch: SotS acts as a slow (and permanent) poison... after your first drink, you need to consume a dose of antidote at least once every 28 real-time days. If you miss a dose, your character dies. (Death in ATITD is permanent - say goodbye to the character; no resurrection).

The really evil twist is as follows... for every additional drink of SotS you take, you get the same ability boost... but the mandatory interval between your doses of "antidote" shortens by a day... so after 2 drinks of SotS, you need to drink the antidote at least once every 27 days... after 3 doses, you need to take the antidote on a 26 day cycle... etc etc...

This effect is cumulative, and (to date) there is no cure. However... the allure of the benefits that this potion can bring has driven a lot of people to become completely dependent on the antidote - having to log in every few days to make sure they get their fix and their character stays alive(!)

Of course, most people think: "Hey, I can handle one drink... the consequences aren't so bad..." - but once you're on the slippery slope to addiction.... ;)

A Tale in the Desert's take on drug addiction

[Anonymous Coward]

Some context: When you're offline in ATITD, you accumulate "waypoint time" which is used to instantly warp around the game world. It's as if your character has been running the whole time you were logged out, and then you direct where it was he was running to.

This waypoint time is very precious! There is just one way to get more, aside from taking a break from play: you can drink "Speed of the Serpent", which instantly gives you 24 hours of waypoint time. There's a catch: from that point forward, you must drink some cabbage juice (super-easy to get) at least once every 30 real-life days. If you forget (the game even reminds you), or fail to log in during that time, you die: game over, account cancelled, no refunds.

You can do additional shots of Speed of the Serpent for additional 24 hour awards, but then the every-30-day rule changes to every-29-days, then every-28-days, etc.

What's interesting is that the player is the one "addicted", not the character!

We've had about 20 deaths.

Addictive tool for Powergamers?

[vgarofalo]

Admittedly I'm not familiar with this game, but after reading the page about drug use in the game world, I was struck with the following thought.

If use of gleam can raise a character's dexterity, and if long time players have amassed a sizable pile of treasure they have no other use for, will some players see gleam as a way to make their characters even stronger?

I can almost imagine gleam use/addiction being a status symbol of some sort ... for those characters that can easily afford it. Or maybe gleam is a means to try and bleed some extra cash out of characters with too much coin.

Either way, I'm glad I don't play this game.

-- V

Flamebait here.

[E_elven]

The drift of the story -undoubtedly submitted by one of the industrious Achaea PR folks- seems to be that Achaea invented the drug addiction code. This is incorrect -there have been many instances of similar implementations in the past.

I am, frankly, sick and tired of reading advertisements for Achaea on /. shallowly disguised as news or articles -there are many as good and even more better MUDs out there (not that Achaea is particularly bad), with better code, better storylines, better administration and better players. 'd rather read about MUDs in general rather than these moronic innuendos.

Achaea uses the same questionable advertising style on many forums. It is one of the few apparently commercially successful text-based game companies of the time, but this is entirely unnecessary.

Please, do not post this crap anymore.