Re: [s-d] [s-b] Proposal: Crime and Punishment

["Jamie Dallaire" <bad.leprechaun@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 6, 2007 1:40 PM, Roger Hicks <pidgepot@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Dec 6, 2007 10:29 AM, Geoffrey Spear <geoffspear@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Create a rule entitled "Murder" with the following text:
> > {{
> > Murder is a Felony that consists of intentionally causing another
> > Player's Hit Points to become nonpositive.
> > }}
> > }
> >
>

On that note, I only now noticed the word "intentionally". Intention might
be hard to determine (just like in the real world... :-). So should we also
have a manslaughter equivalent?

Also now thinking (to get back to the undead idea) that it could be fun to
somehow have undead players who are not subject to criminal law. Perhaps
have the following categories:
- Alive : still in the running for a hack and slash win, can fight
- Dead : are basically out of the RPG subgame completely
- Undead : no longer in the running for a hack and slash win, but can still
attack and affect the subgame. maybe even have some way to resurrect (as
also a way to become undead...) and get back into the game by accomplishing
some difficult feat. anyway...


The main reason for this message was to ask the following question, inspired
by this new criminal law and a comment Wonko dropped sometime during the
emergency. Would it be interesting (and what could possible
effects/consequences be, because I'm not sure myself) to officially
introduce *3 different levels of permissibility* of game actions?:

*Possible vs Impossible* - Impossible actions simply cannot be taken in the
game. The laws governing these actions would be akin to the laws of nature,
and perhaps can be made very difficult to change. Change might come in some
form similar to technological innovation in real life, which challenges but
is still governed by the laws of nature, in that, for example, no one could
fly or clone an organism 2000 years ago but we can now.
*
Legal vs Illegal* - Illegal acts can be taken in the game but may be
punished according to a judicial framework. I think we have a good start for
this in the current proposal by Wooble. Legality can be changed relatively
easily through legislation.

*Moral vs Immoral* - Immoral acts can be taken, but are (somehow...) frowned
upon. This is the one I have most doubts about, in terms of how to implement
it. On the one hand it could be some sort of reputation system like you
might see in a D&D-type RPG or in the most recent Civilization games (3 and
4) vis a vis the other leaders. The problem with this is that the other
players here are not NPCs. Or maybe we could have some form of Virtue rating
that does have specific game effects on things like combat or eligibility
for certain positions. On the other hand, when I think about morality in a
game like this, it only seems right for it to be cast out the window. No one
should feel bad about bribing another player for votes or about "murdering"
someone in the game. But I have been noticing that a certain morality
(something more like sportsmanship) still applies here. It looks like pretty
much everyone wanted to let me keep my holy hand grenade because it was
obtained fair and square (I think), even though it would have been very easy
to strip me of it along with device rules in a refresh proposal. Similarly,
if any player were to share a loophole in the rules with me in order to
embark upon a conspiracy, I'd feel pretty rotten about turning that loophole
against him even though this is just a game. So there is some unwritten
moral code that does apply to the game even though it is not part of it.
Could/Should we somehow apply morality to any aspects of the game in some
official way (I don't know how, any ideas?)? In terms of changing the
morality of specific acts, it could play out at some intermediate speed
between changing legality and changing possibility. Perhaps through a third
mechanism. Legislation, Ethics Evolution (whatever that could mean in terms
of playable game mechanics), and Invention (whatever that could mean in
terms of playable game mechanics).

And any act could be labeled with any combination of these 3 levels of
permissibility. (Yes, we can even choose to outlaw acts that are as yet
impossible).

Billy Pilgrim
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