[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

["Matthew R. Sheahan" <chaos#crystal,palace.net>]

Marian Griffith propagated a meme to the effect of:
> Actually, what I wondered was why things are so vastly different between
> reality and games.

this isn't obvious?  the investment in the game persona is rather less
than that in the real persona.  escaping the consequences of your actions
is trivial in a game; just stop playing it.  there are plenty of others.

most real people tend to avoid things like random killing and such because
we have to live in the world we make.  not so in a game.  therefore while
random killing, or any other simulable id-driven impulse, is possible in
a game, the expression of it will be many orders of magnitude more common
than in reality.  this will be true even if it is not expressly rewarded
as is the case in a typical "XP"-based MUD system.

								chiaroscuro