[vworld-tech] Ultimate MMO Platform

[Crosbie Fitch]

> From: Jim Purbrick
> 
> if enough people try to cheat, they are no longer 
> cheating, just democratically changing the rules.

Quite.

Just as it may be that if enough people are cheating the rules of copyright, the rules of copyright may be rewritten. Rules are made by the people for the people.


> After lots of thinking about this stuff the best solution 
> I've seen so far is the NWN approach of players nominating players that they 
> trust.


Sure. But, then one can also allow computers to measure how much they trust other computers, and entrust sensitive information to them appropriately.


NB I don't think 'quorum mechanics' work for arbitration (decision making). I'd entrust arbitration according to a node's reputation/trust, and once entrusted, arbitration decisions (over what one is entrusted to arbitrate over) are made solo. The 'quorum mechanics' I'd see coming in as a background monitoring process, i.e. because many nodes make the same decision, but only one of them is actually used, those same nodes can compare notes in order to detect any 'worrying' disagreement.

Just as in the battlefield, many soldiers will assess the situation and imagine the decisions they'd make if they were captain, but at the end of the day the captain's in charge, until/unless their decisions are highly at odds with the expectations of their peers, subordinates, or superiors. Of course, it may be quite some time before invalid decision-making is revealed and remedial action is taken.

But, the important thing is, that when time is critical, you can't fight a battle by committee.