Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Of playerkilling, equipment, and roleplay.

thelenian · 06-28-2002, 09:35 PM

American society as a whole considers BMW's to be a symbol of luxury and wealth. It's very reasonable for a car thief to assume that the BMW he sees is worth more than the Honda next to it without first taking both for a test spin and checking under the hood. People make decisions based on their perceptions, which may or may not be grounded in reality.

Another important point that has to be made is that better equipment of any kind is generally identifiable as such through appearance alone. Quality usually manifests itself visually as well as functionally. The simpler the equipment, the more likely it is that this generalization will hold true.

You also have to consider, as Kavir mentioned, that killing NPCs for weapons/armor is no different ICly than killing another PC for wearpons/armor. You have to ask yourself this question: How do characters know which quests to complete/NPCs to kill to get better armor? If this knowledge is considered IC, then PK'ing for eq is just as IC. You can argue that they don't know, and that they try the item out after they've obtained it, but then the same argument goes for PK. It looks pretty good, so the robber decided it was worth it to kill the guy and try it out for himself.

Bottom line:
If PC Jim can kill NPC Bob for "a mean-a$$ four-handed quadruple double bastard sword +5000000 (glowing) (humming)" because he "knows" it's better than his "rusted spatula -10" and have it considered IC, PC Joe can PK PC Jim for the sword later, and it will be just as IC.

06-28-2002, 09:35 PM	#18
thelenian Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 122	American society as a whole considers BMW's to be a symbol of luxury and wealth. It's very reasonable for a car thief to assume that the BMW he sees is worth more than the Honda next to it without first taking both for a test spin and checking under the hood. People make decisions based on their perceptions, which may or may not be grounded in reality. Another important point that has to be made is that better equipment of any kind is generally identifiable as such through appearance alone. Quality usually manifests itself visually as well as functionally. The simpler the equipment, the more likely it is that this generalization will hold true. You also have to consider, as Kavir mentioned, that killing NPCs for weapons/armor is no different ICly than killing another PC for wearpons/armor. You have to ask yourself this question: How do characters know which quests to complete/NPCs to kill to get better armor? If this knowledge is considered IC, then PK'ing for eq is just as IC. You can argue that they don't know, and that they try the item out after they've obtained it, but then the same argument goes for PK. It looks pretty good, so the robber decided it was worth it to kill the guy and try it out for himself. Bottom line: If PC Jim can kill NPC Bob for "a mean-a$$ four-handed quadruple double bastard sword +5000000 (glowing) (humming)" because he "knows" it's better than his "rusted spatula -10" and have it considered IC, PC Joe can PK PC Jim for the sword later, and it will be just as IC.