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Old 02-17-2008, 08:17 PM   #11
prof1515
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Re: RP systems for non RP muds

Most of the time the above did not kill. Despite the illusions of schlock fantasy found in novels and film, the vast majority of people in the vast majority of cultures did not engage in near-constant warfare. Even when they did, it was typically exagerrated and didn't get anywhere near the scale you see in H&S MUDs.

That's not to say a RP MUD couldn't experience circumstances where combat and killing would be necessary. But for some members of the population to engage constantly in such behavior is not RP. Plus, if not everyone in the game is interested in RP, you're left with the problem I described above. Joe Blow wants to RP in town. Jack Arse comes along and H&S's everything in sight. Ok, so Joe RPs around it and does his part to help the town out, bury the dead, repair the damage. Given the ****ty code 99.99% of MUDs have, the town repops at the next reboot, just in time for Jack to come back through and cut everything down again. Joe RPs. Jack just kills. That's the pregnant virgin for you.

Furthermore, one person doesn't a fighting force make. One person going on killing sprees isn't the role of "a soldier, hunter, gangster, raider, knight, amazon, samurai, spartan, viking, zulu, etc, etc, etc". Serial killers operate alone. Suicidal gunmen operate alone. Military forces in most circumstances do not utilize Rambo-style, one-man assault missions and even when they do, it's typically not the "walk into town and just start cutting up the NPCs who don't respond, be it joining in, calling for assistance, or more likely fleeing, while their neighbors down the street are being cut into little pieces" strategy.

So, sure you can RP in a H&S MUD. As a friend of mine says, "You can RP in a cardboard box." But that doesn't mean a cardboard box is the best accomodation one could find. That's especially true when all someone else wants to do is crush the box repeatedly. The shallow, flawed environment that a H&S-coded MUD possesses is that cardboard box.
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