"The way"

[frank]

I kinda think its weird how everyone has psionic powers...,dont you?,
I mean why would people that live in the desert be able to send telepathic messages to anyone they please?, I think it should be a skill only available to magickers not common people.

[Malifaxis]

Forced evolution, Frank.

Darwinism.

It's quite simple... the people able to send telepathic messages to summon help from friends, tribemates, or family are the ones that survive.  Survive and breed.  They pass the trait down through generations.

Over thousands of years of this happening, there are no 'psionic negatives' left.

[Cuttlefish]

Hope you aren't just trolling, but anyway here's the answer:

Because that's one of the ground rules of the game.

Second, magick is not the same as psionics.

Third, it's a handy thing to have from a game mechanics perspective.

[John]

Those who lacked psionic powers quickly died, from the desert and the telepaths.

[Lazloth]

Third, it's a handy thing to have from a game mechanics perspective.

This is probably the only argument I believe.

I think the game misses out a lot with common psionics in place (aides, messengers, etc), but oh well.

[Cuttlefish]

Third, it's a handy thing to have from a game mechanics perspective.

This is probably the only argument I believe.

I think the game misses out a lot with common psionics in place (aides, messengers, etc), but oh well.

Yah, I listed it last because he phrased his question in terms of "world realism" rather than "game realism".

[JollyGreenGiant]

Also, the game is based on Dark Sun, where pretty much everything was psionic.  So it comes by the concept honestly.

[Angela Christine]

The thing with MU*s is that it can be unreasonably hard to find people that you should be in contact with on a daily basis.  If you are living in a barracks or estate with 10-200 other people, you should see  the guy that has the bunk next to yours every single day, or at least every couple days.  But RL intervenes, and you may not be able to connect with that PC for IC weeks or months because your login times don't match up.  That is unreasonable, and unrealistic.

So there has to be something other than face to face communication to take up the slack.  Written communication can work in some games, your character leaves their character a note and everyone is happy.  Some games have virtual telephone answering machines or post offices to facilitate leaving messages.  But since in Zalanthas literacy is illegal for most characters, written messages don't help much.  So far no one has invented telephones or recording devices for the masses, so you can't leave "verbal" messages either.  If you are in the same clan and your clan has a bullitin board you can leave rumor-messages that way, but they are usually reserved for important things.  You can try leaving messages with other  PCs to pass on to the target PC, if there are other PCs around :roll: but that is kind of weird ICly for a person that you are supposedly seeing and working with on a daily basis.

Psionics doesn't help you leave messages, but it does make it a little easier to connect with a fellow PC when their player is available.  Most people still won't attempt to hold long conversations over the way, because even if you are laying down it is draining and risky.  I find the way is mostly used to set up face to face meetings.  People who can write still use written messages, because  written messages are so damned handy.  Sure, a written message can be intercepted, but in a world where everyone is at least mildly telepathic so can psychic messages.

I think it would probably be ok if you wanted to play a mindblind throwback who can't use psionic skills (or just thinks they can't).  You could even roleplay that your character can't understand psychic messages sent by others, it is easy enough to ignore them.  People are allowed to have one eye (no depth perception, which could make some long-range skills difficult) one arm (no dual wielding) and even characters with no legs at all.  A character who had no psychic potential at all (due to mutation, injury, illness, etc.) would be handycapped in Zalanthas, but no more handycapped than the guy with no legs.  You can play a cripple if you want.

You could even play someone with an unusually thick, lead lined skull.  Ignore "contact" on your skill list, and keep a barrier up at all times.  Pretend that you have trouble recieving messages, and that the barrier is involuntary.  But now I'm wandering off-topic, so I'll stop.

AC

its a global channel with IC background that serves as a 'glue' for various things in the game.

I personally don't believe anything else then that, and find its a half-assed reason at that. In a world where Psions are killed on sight you'd think no form of mental anything would be allowed.

It would be like the magick-laws being rewritten to where those practicing beneficial, convienent, and widely practiced magick is acceptable, whereas darker sides of it are forbidden.

It also allows for a cop-out on issues like warrants etc. The answer most commonly given to how every soldier in a city-state of thousands would know your wanted is the Way. Another half-assed reason/explanation. But without it, there would need to be a mess of code and scripts and things to go about in a more realistic manner.

Its been a way to coordinate a world stocked with plenty of nobles and not enough servants. I.e. some nobles may not wish to deliver messages themselves when no able pc servants are around, but they still want to arrange a meeting with so-and-so. So there is the Way. Another convience to usually a player-base raised on stock-roms/smaug muds where global-channels are as common as levels.

I often play characters adverse to the way, and others so enamored with it... both for the same reason, and that's usually mind-benders. I think that the casual use of the way is a bit underplayed. I mean knowing someone is 'in your head' communicating with you and being okay with it, and then knowing that the basic principles of the long-hated Psions is their prescense in your head doesn't work with me. It seems like a total abolishment of the Way would do well in identifying and eliminating a psionic threat.

Anyways, so for convience sake, and a cop-out factor, and an overall need among players (not characters) for long-range communication there is the Way.

[John]

In a world where Psions are killed on sight you'd think no form of mental anything would be allowed.

I don't necessarily disagree with you (I'd be ecstatic but furious if the Way became reserved for mindbenders). But while I know OOCly that contact and barrier is part of pscionics, my characters don't. If someone were to question them the conversation would probably go like this:
Other Person> Do you use the Way?
Me> Of course I do.
OP> Do you hate Mindbenders?
Me> Of course I do.
OP> Then why do you use the Way?
Me> What you talking about Willis?
OP> Mindbenders use the Way.
Me> Sure. But Magickers use the fire, magickers use the rocks. It's not like I'm being a magicker whenever I light a fire or throw a rock. Same with those Mindbenders. Not like I'm being a mindbender when I use the Way.
OP> So you wouldn't care if a Mindbender talked to you over the Way?
Me> Of course I'd feckin' care. They'd probably be reading my mind while they talk to me or they'd be making me do strange fecked up stuff.

That's what I have all of my character's believe. Also. Nobles would become unplayable if the Way was gotten rid of. Nobles SHOULD have servants close at hand constantly. But they also constantly need servants outside of the Estate. So the only solution would be to have more servants. But if that happened then Nobles would drain the playerbase even more. So instead the Way is used. Without it, playing a servant wouldn't be fun cause you'd be confined to the Noble's Estate on the off chance the Noble logs in

[Carnage]

The answer most commonly given to how every soldier in a city-state of thousands would know your wanted is the Way. Another half-assed reason/explanation.

Most people are being sarcastic when they say that, Ace.

[mansa]

Also, the game is based on Dark Sun, where pretty much everything was psionic.  So it comes by the concept honestly.

I dont get it?

Dark Sun is a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons.  It has a world called Athas, Sorcerer Dragon Kings, Kanks, Templars, Tribal Halflings, Evil thieving elf tribes, and other stuff.

Now, ArmageddonMUD took some of the concepts, and made their own world with it.  They've also included other aspects of other great fantasy worlds, such as Dune.  They've used the concept of the Merchant Houses, and spice, and other such things.

But.  In the DarkSun Campaign...  Every creature is psionic, and there's a lot more combat/evil creatures that affect those things.

ArmageddonMUD isn't DarkSun, but it is influenced by it.