Pk disussions forum would be cool.. to share, uh, whatever
I bet every pkiller knows what I mean

W00t!

Amen.

I've been screaming about this for months.

Synozeer, we're all yakking about it. Bring it on!

-Visko

...and you keep getting the same explanation for why it's not necessary.

Disclaimer: I'm not opposed to PK in general.  The MUD I work at certainly isn't shy about it.

That said, I find PK logs and discussions from games I don't play pretty worthless.  You'll see a number of abilities and 'rules' that don't apply elsewhere, you don't know what the participants' options were, and it's hard to judge whether anyone involved is skilled, clever, or just mashing their MUD's local overpowered ability  Unlike roleplay logs and discussions, PK-oriented posts won't be very 'portable' from game to game.  "You should have anticipated that he'd have Iron Grip of Azazel and Bloodlust of the Seven Fiends up and given up on maledicting with Templar's Defense.  Instead, fight out of a Champion's Stand and try to sneak in a Light of Heaven opener...."  "Guhwha?"

I could see advertisements along the lines of an annotated PK log, however.  A lot of people look for that kind of depth in combat code, and some combat examples (with appropriate comments to guide the reader) would let some of us more fancy-schmancy types let their MUD's code flex its muscles for prospective players.  But tactical discussions and log analysis are hard enough between two MUDs using the same codebase, let alone two different ones.

As I said with the last attempt to have this put in, I'm not even remotely for having it added, all it would be is a ****ing match between who thinks they are the best killer on one game and someone on another, and just a massive flame fest. There's no real need for a discussion board for pk on here in the slightest...

Why not? I see some people are against it but it IS MUD related after all and there is a demand for it. You people aren't forced to watch it and if you really want, as the admin around here to remove that forum from the index page just like what happened to the joke forum. So why not then?

If they can get a decent amount of people backing them up making sure the new forum about PK will be used, then let them have one I say.

****ing matches are one thing, and although I enjoy watching them, this is not PK. Just as I, a vehement pk-oriented player, took years to decide that RP-based MUDs and MUDders weren't a bunch of panzy chat-room teeny-boppers, all pkers aren't just a bunch of hack 'n slash beat-em-up cyber-jocks, if you will.

The idea of a pk forum is to have a place where administrators can concentrate on ideas for new combat systems, add-ins, innovations, and be able to ask/answer questions regarding how to implement these innovations with as little stress on the existing pbase as possible, how to balance them, ways to monitor new add-ins that aren't too intrusive to the players, etc.

Yes, all of this seems intuitive from the standpoint of an experienced coder, but the fact is we're not creating nifty chat rooms; we're creating MUDs. And just because combat systems seem boring to a lot of the most outspoken people who frequent this forum doesn't mean they aren't deeply interesting to people like myself, who probably do at least browse this site occasionally. I want a forum where I can post ideas regarding combat in general and have them be shot down constantly. Who knows; maybe someone will take interest in an idea I had, and turn it into something truly fantastic.

The point is, too many forums are obviously a bad thing. In the same manner, forums that are condusive to stupidity (where it isn't wanted) and lots of foul language/bad intentions are a Very Bad Thing. Solution? Make the forum, assign an administrator who volunteers for the position, and give it a trial period. If it looks like it gets a lot of foot traffic and the administrator seems to have things under control, leave it. If not, remove it, and there will be no more threads regarding it.

-Visko

Depending on the type of things you want to talk about, advanced mud concepts, the coders forums, or even the Tavern are all able to handle these types of discussions.

I never claimed they were (for obvious reasons), but most PKers are extremely confrontational. Try flaming even a non-PK mud (or codebase) and you'll see all the players rushing to defend it. Now try putting all the PKers on the same forum, where they'll boast about how they're the best at X, how their mud is the best at Y, and then just watch all the PKers from other muds rushing to the defence.

And these all sound like things for the Advanced Mud Concepts forum.

I don't think I've seen anyone claim that combat systems are boring. Indeed there have been some lengthy and interesting discussions about such systems in the past.

Have them be shot down, or have them not be shot down? If the former, then that's very likely what would happen on a PK forum. If the latter, well, that's what places like the Advanced Mud Concepts forum is for.

I understand there is a stereotype about people who PK.  But I am suprised that so many of you are acting on your stereotypes.

A stereotype, by definition, is an oversimplified conclusion.  This means that there are people who don't fit the PK stereotype.  That there are  intelligent posters like visko and, I hope, myself that enjoy the challenge of PK yet aren't about making juvenile posts.  These are the kind of people who will be posting in the forums.  Those who fit the stereotype will have no motivation to post PK logs or "I am the king of my mud" type posts for exactly the reason that no one outside thier mud cares.  The PK forums would be for ideas that transcend individual muds.  And if some of those posts do happen to find there way in?  That's what a moderator is for.  Do the other moderators allow stupid and pointless posts in thier forums?  Then why would a well chosen PK moderator do that?

As far as dispersing the pk posts throughout the rest of the forums (how it is now), it doesn't work.  It doesn't promote interesting discussions.  They get lost amid the many other forums.  I don't have time to check every forum and every thread to see if it's a thread discussing PK issues.  

Additionally, the line of reasoning that posts could be disseminated throughout other forums could be applied to others.  The dealing with OOC cheating thread in the RP forums? That really could have gone in the administrators forums.  The good vs. evil thread?  That really could have gone in the Tavern forum.  In fact we could just have one forum and let everyone sort though and find posts that interest them.  But that's not the point.  The OP's wanted feedback specifically from the RP community.  Just as I would make a post and want feedback specifically from the PK admin community.  And dividing posts up into different topics is simply a manner of aiding the users of TMS.  

Overall, I am suprised that there is such objection to it.  I'm surprised that people who don't PK reply to this post at all.  I can't see how it negatively affects anyone.

I'm all for it, provided posts in that forum don't appear in the Most Recent Posts window on the main page. Heated pk arguements tend to be little more than flames and nonsense, and the space is better used by serious discussion.

Lord Templar Hard Nose shakes his head sadly.

Do you have evidence that a pk forums on TMS would be be "flames and nonsense?"  Or are you just assuming based on a stereotype?

Huh, that seems to summarize about half the "discussions' on most mud sites. I see just as many idiotic posts about rolepl aying as I do about PKing. in PKing it's "I'm the best Pker!" "No I am!" "Your mud has a crappy PK system. Being a PKer there doesn't count!" etc etc. In roleplaying it's "That's not real roleplaying!" "Yes it is!" "No it's not!" Blah blah.

--matt

"You have been attacked by $n"

Nohass on
slay $n


I win.

Well, logos is right about one thing...

I do tend to overestimate the maturity of the Mudding audience in general.

I'm confrontational but I've never PK-ed back in the day when I still played a MUD. What does that make me? I feel like such an outcast around here! :(

I've never said there can't be - indeed, Synozeer has already said in the past that he'll add a PK forum if there is demand for it. All I've said is that I don't think it would be a good idea.

Originally, Visko suggested that "People tend to ignore the "dark side" of the games out there, and I'd like to find a place where people who enjoy some decent pk/hack'n'slash can come to share ideas, thoughts, and insane amounts of flames", even requesting "Plz make pk forum unrestricted in language etc...we need our space to be able to express ourselves appropriately". He has presented his proposal in a much better way this time, but it's really just a sugar coating - his original posts were much more representative of how I feel such a forum will end up.

As has been pointed out both here and in other threads, the roleplaying forum has the benefit that roleplaying is codebase-independent. PK on the other hand is very codebase specific - and while a good PKer is able to adapt to different environments, general discussions are unlikely to be of much interest. This problem is even encountered on the GodWars mailing list, and that only covers GodWars and its derivatives.

Discussing the design of features such as new combat systems would dilute the Advanced Mud Concepts forum - which is IMO where such discussions belong (it's not just PK muds which use combat, after all). Discussing the actual implementation of such features would then dilute the Coding forum.

It would be comparible with discussing permadeath - you might talk about the impact in the roleplaying forum, but the actual design discussions would go into the Advanced Mud Concepts forum, just as the specifics on how to go about coding it would go into the Coding forum. The same would apply to (for example) dynamic room descriptions - you might discuss their pros and cons in the builders forum, but not the design or implementation. But what part of a combat system would you discuss in the PK forum?

And that leads us back to the original post, which stated "Pk disussions forum would be cool". And my opinion is still that no, I don't think it would - I just don't see a need for it. I wouldn't even say I was really against the idea, just that I don't think it would add any value to the forums. But it's not my call anyway, I'm just giving my 2 euro cents...