
Killing your fellow players on NannyMUD
---------------------------------------

In the original LPmud, there was no difference between monsters and players
when it came to fighting and killing (except that the players usually became
very annoyed with you if you killed him, and the poor monsters just died).

The idea was of course that it's rather "unrealistic" to meet someone (let's
say Harry) and be able to slaughter the poor man, and then you meet someone
else, who happens to be a player, and suddenly some mysterious force stops
your sword in the middle of your attack.

Also, killing other players - and being killed by them - can be seen as
a part of the game. You  get experience and treasure from players you kill,
just like monsters, and in the same way that you have to be careful with
all those dangerous monsters, you have to be prepared for an attack from
an aggressive player.

On the other hand, not everyone agrees on this.

One reason is of course that it's no fun to be killed, especially if you
have played for a long time, maybe days and days, and you are on the
verge of wizardgood - and then some stupid idiot comes and kills you
just for the lousy experience - or even worse, just for fun! Arrgh!

Also, the ability to kill players has been misused, here on NannyMUD.
Some wizards (now ex-wizards, or soon-to-become-ex-wizards), have gone
around - maybe using another, mortal, character - and killed other
players, just out of maliciousness.

Then there is the question of what MUD really is - is it a role-playing
game where you can play a murderous orc and go around and attack everything
you see, and get points for it, or is it some sort of communications
program, maybe like irc, where you (the real you) say and do things in
a form of virtual reality? Well, MUD is both - for example, sometimes when
I play MUD, I go dragon-hunting (a game!) and sometimes I and some other
people are stand in the chrch and discuss LPC programming practices
(now it's a communications program!). Some of us, though, seem to be
stuck in one of these views, and if a game-player attacks and kills
a communications-program-user, the communications-program-user is of
course angry - to him it's the same thing as if the game-player had
walked up to his terminal and pulled the plug.

So how do we solve this problem?

Well we don't, but this is how it works on Nanny! :-)

By default, a player can not attack or kill another player. This is done
with some checks in the code, and is explained with a "guardian angel" that
each player gets when he is born. The angel will protect you from other
players who try to attack you, and it will also stop you from attacking
them.

There are, however, places (certain rooms) in the world where this is
allowed, and in those places players can fight and kill each other all
they want, since the guardian angels will be a bit slack in precisely
those rooms. From the programmer's standpoint, think of it as a function
called "query_playerkilling" that is defined in these rooms, and that
returns a true value.

If a player wants to, he can abolish his own guardian angel. This will
allow him to attack other players, who also have lost their guardian
angels, but not those who still have their angels.
Once you have lost the angel, you can never get it back.

To summarize:
Playerkillers can kill each other, but they can not kill non-playerkillers
except in certain rooms where playerkilling is allowed.
Non-playerkillers can not kill other players, except in the playerkilling-
rooms.
Everyone starts out as a non-playerkiller, and a non-playerkiller can
become a playerkiller, but a playerkiller can not go back to being
a non-playerkiller.

From the help file ("help playerkilling"):

------------------------------------------------------------
By default, a player can not attack or kill another player.
Each player gets a guardian angel when he (or she or it) is born,
and this angel will protect you from other players who try to attack
you. It will also stop you from attacking them.

There are, however, places in the world where players can kill each
other without interference from their guardian angels, or from the law.
One of these is the ancient place of duels, behind the village church.

A player can go to the Dark Temple - also behind the village church - and
abolish his guardian angel. This will allow him to attack other players,
who also have lost their guardian angels, but not those who still have
their angels.

Once you have lost your angel, you can never get it back.
------------------------------------------------------------
