[Burrytar]

While skimming the archives of a certain mud's forums, I was impressed by how many superstitions took root - due in large part to players who assign meaning to the effects of random number generators - only to be eventually debunked by the mud's admins. I am wondering how far you could go to capture this phenomenon as an intended feature of a mud.

What could a mud do to both maximize the superstitions of its players and/or maximize the fun such superstitions could provide for the players?

One crude way to nurture superstition may be to throw a fake score up with the main stats or scores of each character. Call it "Karma" or something. Create several random number generators, one for each individual, one for each class, one for each race, etc. Combine these numbers to shift each individual's Karma score.

Anyone who tries to analyze the number would be able to pick out the relation to individual, class, race, etc. However, assigning meaning would only be possible by creating superstitions. Superstitions for individual behavior, superstitions for class behavior, superstitions for race behavior, etc.

I wonder if lasting cultures and character quirks could be created by this method, or by more refined means.