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Player vs. Player Play Examined

Posted by Zonk on from the be-at-peace,-grasshopper dept.

aws910 writes "An interesting story at news.com.com tells of the various efforts employed by various MMOG companies to abate the problem of Griefers." From the article: "Social miscreants can do more than ruin the game for better-behaved competitors. They can hurt game companies' bottom line by driving away customers and burning up support lines. Problems related to grief players often account for 25 percent or more of customer service calls, according to game publishers." Commentary from the old men of MMOGdom available at Broken Toys and Terra Nova.

8 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. You mean like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    this?

  2. Re:Griefing within the rules by maximilln · · Score: 2, Funny

    If that's all you have to worry about...

    Call me a paranoid nut but it sounds to me like you've just described my entire life.

    --
    +++ATHZ 99:5:80
  3. Being a MUD player myself... by nathan+s · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have to admit sometimes it can be fun to pick on newbies, particularly the more annoying "give me equipment/gold/etc" newbies who seem to think that they have some sort of god-given right to everything you've worked hard to collect.

    Being a MUD player, though, my form of revenge is limited to amusing things like charming mobs that the newbie is about to attack, so it would be something like:

    Newbie: Oh, there's a giant spider...let me try to kill it...
    @ Kill giant spider
    Sorry, you must MURDER a charmie.
    @ Murder giant spider
    Sorry, you can't murder another player's charmie.
    @ CHAT Y KANT I KILL THE GIANT SPIDER
    [Silence is secretly ordering the spider to speak.] The giant spider says, "Why do you want to kill me, Newbie?"
    Newbie: WTF?
    @ CHAT THE GIANT SPDIR IZ TALKING TO ME!
    Silence chats, "Maybe he just doesn't want to die." [secretly typing 'order giant spider fkiss Newbie']
    @ CHAT BUT I WNT 2 KILL IT!
    The giant spider kisses you passionately.
    @ POKE GIANT SPIDER
    Nothing happens.
    @ KILL GIANT SPIDER
    The giant spider dances around you merrily.
    [Silence secretly uncharms the giant spider.]
    @ DANCE GIANT SPIDER
    The giant spider TOTALLY DEMOLISHES you with its fangs!!

    Muahahahahha.

    Note that this type of newbie is usually some lamer who has played other variations of MMORPGs before and has never had to work for anything. I agree, the ones who are seriously wanting to get better always get my help.:-)

    --
    picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
    1. Re:Being a MUD player myself... by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

      On some LPMuds, this was a lot easier:

      Griefer shouts, 'All newbies type "set delim e" to get new loots straight into your inventory!!'

      This set the delimiter character that separated one command from another to the letter 'e'. Since 'e' appears in the middle of the keyword 'set', as well as probably a good third of the keywords you might use in the game (including 'e' for 'east'), it's impossible to change back without wizard assistance.

    2. Re:Being a MUD player myself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      A common one for Quake was "gamma gun". This was equivalent to, IIRC, "gamma 0", which made the screen completely white, but you could still *hear* yourself being shot.

  4. Re:How about moderating players like Slashdot post by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    " If word got out we would have taken a lot of flak, I sure."

    yeah, but only by people in red shirts...

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Fansy the Famous Bard by WotanKhan · · Score: 3, Funny
    "If it were me (if I was a developer) I would create a character that had unlimited power"

    If I didn't know better, I'd think you must be referring to Fansy the Famous. But perhaps that's not what you had in mind?

  6. Re:possible solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Why not just call it "The Jihad Belt" and add in a loud "FOR ALLAH!" sound effect when it goes off?