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Old 05-12-2008, 03:40 AM   #51
Threshold
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Home MUD: Threshold RPG
Posts: 1,260
Threshold will become famous soon enough
Re: What Does "Fair" Mean?

As long as the rules of the game apply equally to everyone, and the rules are made clear to players in advance, then I believe such a game is fair. Assuming the rules are made clear (or at least available) in advance, a player who does not feel they are fair should not play in the first place.

Unfairness is when there are secretive things happening behind the scenes that you do not know about. For example, when there are some people currying favor with admins to help them out, or there are people who get "wink wink nudge nudge" benefits because they bought a lot of t-shirts or other merchandise (something that happens a lot), or things of that nature.

By any other standard, pretty much no game in existence is fair. Every person has their own areas where they possess a disproportionate advantage that no game can nullify. Is it fair that basketball rewards tall people over short people? Is it fair that poker rewards richer people that can bully poorer people (through betting) into folding a good hand? By some definitions of the word fair, the answer would be no. But that is not what we mean by "fair" when talking about games.

For games, what people generally mean by fairness is that the rules are applied equally to all players. That is true in basketball, poker, or pay-for-perks muds. As long as people know the rules, and rules are the same for everyone, for all intents and purposes that game is fair.
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