So, on the topic of a reputation system, I realize that we've been talking about numbers a lot, but in a MU*, things can be a hell of a lot more experimental and dynamic.
I read Thenomain's post about ranking and voting not working due to people bitching, which, yeah, I get it. I think the inherent flaw in this sort of influence system is using numbers period. What does that even mean? "I have 20 influence!"
Alright, I'm sure there's some sort of chart or whatever, but it doesn't really tell people anything at all other than "This person is allowed to do X things and order X people". So, my proposal would simply be to entirely do away with numbers entirely, and make an actually -meaningful- influence system.
I believe that there could be two numberless pools, let's say an +info-like pool that anyone in particular organizations or factions can take a look at, access depending on if they would be able to know that information about someone.
For every given org/faction, you would have a fame and infamy pool. Based on how particular characters perceive what your character has done, they'll add, say, a short paragraph (enough to be descriptive) describing this. A person will be able to write -both- their character's negative opinion and their positive opinion, considering that people tend to have both.
Now, there are limitations to this. I believe that a character's perceptions should -only- be added if they tell those perceptions to other people ICly. They cannot add things that they do not want to be ICly known. The other limitation is, those perceptions -must- be based on things that the character has actually done.
You can't add "Alice thinks this guy is lame", why does she think he's lame, what did she tell people to convey this guy's lameness?
The flip side of the system is that people -will- know who said what. Shit gets back to people, this could have consequences for the person -saying- that stuff. And that doesn't mean you can say stuff in a scene and not expect it to get around, because other people can say what they -heard- someone say. Of course this would possibly have some sort of rumor tag? And, again, it wouldn't be anonymous, it would get back to the person who told it to begin with, as this is a system that charts public information.
Anyway, based on all of this, people could decide what they think of you based on what they've heard, as what they've heard is right there in a convenient list. And makes perfect sense due to only being readable by people in the same organization where the reputation originated. Staff or GMs could also add epic shit that everyone would know regardless of if they're talking about, like, "Jim totally kicked a meteor and saved the city".
Using this system, they would also be able to much more simpler determine who should be moving up in whatever IC ranks, who's getting out there and doing stuff with a variety of people, etc. This system doesn't really benefit people who stay shut up in their rooms.
Obviously this is just a suuuuper rough draft of a system, but I think it'd pretty cool in some finalized form. And obviously if you use this kind of thing in, say, WoD, there may or may not be bitching. But hey, I've said before, if you let "This would never work" or "Players would never go for this" stop you, you can't progress. You've gotta take chances with new and experimental things, and proper implementation goes a long way in forming the response.
) The worst of it doesn't usually involve outright cheating anyway, though usually that's how folks get caught when they get too lazy or convoluted in who they've told what when OOCly.
