FC: Barclay McInnes on virtual game disputes leak into meatspace

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: Barclay McInnes <barc () netdud com>
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        Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:55:36 -0700 (PDT)
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Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:55:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: FC: Virtual game disputes leak into meatspace
To: <declan () well com>
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Hi Declan;

     I'm not sure this is all that big of an issue.  Basically, this type
of thing has been going on since the beginning of online games.  This
is no different, really, than someone dropping into a Tribes server
and joining your team, then proceeding to run around and wreck your
own base.  Even back in the '80s when I ran a BBS with online
multiplayer (turn based) games, you had people being twits to each
other for the pure fun of it.
     The solutions to these types of isses are also largely unchanged
since those days of yore.  Obviously, if the player involved is doing
something against the rules, then their account gets turfed.  Back in
the BBS days when we didn't just hand out accounts to everyone, but
actually called everybody's number back to confirm their existance
(easy enough to do when there's only a few hundred people in the city
with modems at all), getting an account kicked was an effective
solution, and sent a strong message as well, since everyone in the
community heard about it.  Cancelling a Sims Online account with the
associated reg key would be the equivelant.  Do that, and in order
for the harrasser to get back online, they need to buy another copy
with a new reg key.
     Part of the issue here though, is that the players are not breaking
any game rules specifically.  Instead they're exploiting weaknesses
in the game's design itself.  That's harder to police, since they're
doing "wrong", but it's not technically *wrong*.  Most other online
games handle this by changing the way the game works.  In some cases,
the smallest change can have the desired effect.  For example, I used
to play an online Sony game named Tanarus.  It was a squad-based tank
game.  One of the tanks in there was called a "chameleon" tank and
had the ability to be cloaked.  As a downside, it had no shields
unlike the rest of the tanks, but the cloak partly made up for this.
One of the configs that people started to use was to load out with a
missile launcher and 2 hellfire missiles.  This, coupled with the
built in weapon called a Lancer on the Chameleon, was an absolutely
deadly combination.  Used correctly, the Lancer was just strong
enough to take down one of an enemy's shields, and the two Hellfire
missiles fired immediately afterward were enough to finish them off
completely.  It was very common for people to pick this combo, and
then go around "assassinating" people from behind.  Sony's response
was both subtle, and ingenious.  All they did was increase the delay
by about a half second between each weapon firing on the Chameleon.
What this allowed the attacked party to do was shift just enough
power to the downed shield to put it up at minimum strength by the
time the second missile came.  That way, just enough damage was
absorbed by the barely-there shield to stop the kill.  This turned a
1-2-3 kill into a situation where the Chameleon had emptied its
weapons, and had an angry (and still armed) opponent actively hunting
them instead.
EA could do some similar tweaking to the Sims, such as logic for detecting
a large number of "red links" being applied in a short time period to one
person, and only allowing the first 3 or 4 links in a 24 hour period to
stick, for the unwanted lawn urinators/ransackers, have a "sim Restraining
order" or a "sim Jail" for sim thieves.



At the end of the day, it's just a game and everyone should just treat it
like that.  Even EA/Maxis invites to you "be somebody... else!".  Someone
wants to take them up on it by acting like a mob boss, so be it!
Meatspace legislation of any kind would just ruin the game.

At least we aren't having problems like these:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7027

And in Asia I've heard of more than one shooting based on a game at the
cafe gone wrong, so this looks pretty tame by comparison...

Barclay McInnes




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