Abusive play from Sathos

If it's no bug or an idea, but it's still MUD-related, it goes here.

Moderator: Wizards

Post Reply
Message
Author
Olrane
Champion
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:56 am
Location: Illinois

Abusive play from Sathos

#1 Post by Olrane » Thu Jul 25, 2019 2:38 am

Today, I logged in to a neutral safe zone room and immediately was attacked by NPC ghouls which stopped me from being able to flee from a special exit, such that my only recourse was to run into hostiles (certain death) or wait for certain death. Immediately upon login.

This is not a rewarding play experience for anyone involved. I didn't make a stumble in judgment that punished me for my hubris; I did not get caught by an active player and get to experience an exciting or meaningful clash. I, as a player, was simply violated by another player for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not, and will not, be viewed as a legitimate in character clash. I will not respawn my character or retrieve my things and legitimize that it actually happened in the game.

These "known exploits" such as undead traps on special exits are unacceptable and antisocial to use, and anyone who uses them to a point where intervention is needed from an already stretched thin admin needs to answer to the playerbase for their actions.

This is tantamount to cheating, in my view, because it breaks the social contract that we have with our fellow players. If you cannot roleplay a villain in a way that is not adversarial to the players, then you should not play one. Upholding the social contract is the most important thing, it is the glue that keeps us together. It is what allows for IC conflict to exist without a marriage to OOC animosity.

I can't say how essential it is to respect the other players and engage with them as players. It bridges the gaps of misunderstanding and allows us to view the game's events as an unfolding story to create together instead of a competition between players. I don't want bad blood, and I don't want you to go away. But I do want you to acknowledge what is abusive play and commit to act in a way that considers the possible consequences and makes prosocial decisions.

User avatar
Delia
Overlord
Posts: 2782
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:22 am
Location: Finland

Re: Abusive play from Sathos

#2 Post by Delia » Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:35 am

I am sad to hear something like this had happened. Just chiming in to voice my opinion on the matter too. Gaming should be fun. It is not fun to log and to be immediately killed by NPC monsters placed by another player. That will just encourage quitting the game.

The game already has "invisible NPCs" monitoring you and your actions which translates into reputation changes and such. Perhaps using summoned creatures in certain ways and most definitely, creating undead should be more socially punishable in game?

Meaning, it would be fine to do whatever on your "homeground" but other cities would react to creating undead in the open, first demolishing reputation as a warning and then treating you as an offender if it continues until you become an enemy.

I would be totally fine with mages being punished for dragging their elementals and whatnots into cities and public spaces or summoning their spectral horses in the marketplace too, btw. I think it could atleast be up for discussion.
"To be is to do" - Sokrates
"To do is to be" - Jean-Paul Sartre
"Do be do be do" - Frank Sinatra

ila
Master
Posts: 233
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:30 am

Re: Abusive play from Sathos

#3 Post by ila » Tue Jul 30, 2019 9:49 am

I could see reputation hits for summoning inherently hostile creatures, though that does punish (for example) hiring mages to summon golems to protect chokepoints. An automated system has no allowance for nuance there.

I don't see any reason to damage reputation for non-hostile summonables that doesn't also apply to other spells or unusual miracles, which would also be a system without nuance.

One possibility for adding nuance might be allowing different domains to separately license magic-users, whereby unlicensed magic-use is punished. Certain guilds would be granted automatic licenses here, eg. priests of Taniel in Elvandar.

Magic in Arborea is a special topic in particular. Every mage-related guild (except the mages guild itself) is found in Arborea or (in the case of alchemists) Arborean lands. It's impossible to even gain promotions in the mages guild without some access to the parchment guild, and difficult to even join without going through one of the lay guilds, all of which are in Arborean lands. It's the de facto mage's town.

Most magic practiced in Arborea is a direct result of that, I think, and of course due to mages' overall grindiness that not spending mana every second you're online begins to feel like a waste.

Post Reply