Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post

Cierel · 08-24-2004, 09:42 AM

Get yer straw man right !

I see ad hominem, but it is, of course, irrelevant. I'm no logical expert, and I certainly don't know every term for every fallacy, but I think the argument stands.

The Logos says that you (Dulan) would accept money, which is an unsubstantiated but reasonable claim. You deny the accusation. There is no more evidence for your point than the Logos'. Both sides are so hypothetical as to be meaningless.

I contend that $10 million is so many orders of magnitude off from the prices of all pay-for-perk options I've ever seen that it's an entirely different game. Offer enough money and you can buy almost anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's for sale. If a MUD has never sold anything and has no intention of selling anything, it can reasonably claim to be free of perks.

As I see it, there are two separate arguments here that have become muddled. One is free versus subscription. Some MUDs require all players to pay in order to play. Others do not. This is a clear case of free versus not free. Achaea, Aetolia, and Imperian are free by this definition. You may play forever and never spend a cent. There may also be MUDs for which players are required to pay a one-time fee analogous to purchasing the game. I don't know of any, but it's a model that could exist. Thus, we have free, subscription, and one-time fee.

The second argument is over perks, and there are really several types. There are MUDs with no perks whatsoever (the vast majority of MUDs fit here, in fact). There are MUDs with perks that are available through gameplay (IRE's games). There are MUDs with perks only available for pay . Furthermore, under both types with perks, they can be either cosmetic or gameplay-affecting. The list is thus perk-free, cosmetic perks available for pay or through gameplay, game-affecting perks available for pay or through gameplay, cosmetic perks available for pay only, and game-affecting perks available for pay only.

Obviously this can be broken down even more into level of effect and other "analog" details, but this system looks like a good categorization of the "digital" pay traits. Whether or not it's useful and informative is up to you.

08-24-2004, 09:42 AM	#134
Cierel New Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6	Get yer straw man right ! I see ad hominem, but it is, of course, irrelevant. I'm no logical expert, and I certainly don't know every term for every fallacy, but I think the argument stands. The Logos says that you (Dulan) would accept money, which is an unsubstantiated but reasonable claim. You deny the accusation. There is no more evidence for your point than the Logos'. Both sides are so hypothetical as to be meaningless. I contend that $10 million is so many orders of magnitude off from the prices of all pay-for-perk options I've ever seen that it's an entirely different game. Offer enough money and you can buy almost anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's for sale. If a MUD has never sold anything and has no intention of selling anything, it can reasonably claim to be free of perks. As I see it, there are two separate arguments here that have become muddled. One is free versus subscription. Some MUDs require all players to pay in order to play. Others do not. This is a clear case of free versus not free. Achaea, Aetolia, and Imperian are free by this definition. You may play forever and never spend a cent. There may also be MUDs for which players are required to pay a one-time fee analogous to purchasing the game. I don't know of any, but it's a model that could exist. Thus, we have free, subscription, and one-time fee. The second argument is over perks, and there are really several types. There are MUDs with no perks whatsoever (the vast majority of MUDs fit here, in fact). There are MUDs with perks that are available through gameplay (IRE's games). There are MUDs with perks only available for pay . Furthermore, under both types with perks, they can be either cosmetic or gameplay-affecting. The list is thus perk-free, cosmetic perks available for pay or through gameplay, game-affecting perks available for pay or through gameplay, cosmetic perks available for pay only, and game-affecting perks available for pay only. Obviously this can be broken down even more into level of effect and other "analog" details, but this system looks like a good categorization of the "digital" pay traits. Whether or not it's useful and informative is up to you.