HONOUR AMONGST PK'ERS

Honour amongst PK'ers. Do your eyes deceive you? Can there possibly be such a thing? Well, until last evening, I would have said that there is not an ounce of decency or compassion in the dark pit that is the soul of a PK'er. But that was only until last evening..

For me, the most striking thing about MUD2 is the the way that the personae in the game express the very same characteristics that one finds in real-life. The pleasure in killing, robbing, tormenting and abusing other players is counter-balanced by those personae who get most pleasure in helping, encouraging and empathising with their fellow players.

I have always thought that, in MUD2 at least, one type automatically excluded the other.

But not so. Last evening, As Menai, I was going about the business of treasure collecting with Fuglybloke, and we were doing very well between us. The keep, the Goblin Realm treasure rooms and a mobile or two had rewarded our joint efforts with a thousand points or two.

We needed to see a man about a wafer, so wh'd the man in the misty graveyard, and set off to meet him. Just as we approached the man, I experienced the second-most dreaded thing next to touch-stone death.. a fetch!

My poor Menai was reduced to staring vacantly into space, whilst I frantically tried to reconnect using another persona from a different account, as there is usually no way to reconnect with the same account until the 'frozen'persona disappears.

Worse still, there was an 'invis' about, Clutterbox, who had stolen the amulet from Foz, who was roaming the land with Cloud.

With the greatest respect, both Foz and Cloud are not entirely above the occasional PK here or there, so my Menai was at the mercy of anyone who might want to take the opportunity of a nice easy necro-kill.

Would Fuglybloke take the chance, and with a quick blind-and-cripple, kill the frozen Menai for the points? Would Foz, Cloud or the invis Clutterbox do the same? Remember, until then, I believed that all PK'ers had ice running through their veins.. I was a very worried player indeed!

But what happened next has altered my instinct to pre-judge PK'ers and tar them all with the same high-minded brush. Far from taking the god-given (or should I say fetch-given) chance to slay Menai, Fuglybloke selflessly and courageously stood guard over her, at the risk of being preyed upon himself.

It is a very dangerous thing, to stand in one place for even a brief time, and Menai was frozen for some minutes. As I feared, the invis Clutterbox had zeroed in on Menai, and attacked! Did Fuglybloke flee the scene to save his own skin?

Not a bit of it! He instantly reacted to Menai's plight by typing 'kill someone', which had the unfortunate effect of taking on Menai too!

To make matters worse for Fuglybloke, both Foz and Cloud had homed in on Clutterbox, and upon seeing poor Fuglybloke apparently PK'ing Menai, immediately piled into him!

It was at this point that I had returned with Mousey, one of my Protected Personas, and was met with the heart-stopping sight of what appeared to be four attackers killing my beloved Menai!

And me a PP! I could only stand and watch in horror as Menai died before my disbelieving eyes! Fuglybloke had to flee the onslaught of Foz and Cloud, despite desperately typing and shouting 'withdraw'. Foz shouted to me 'Why was Fuglybloke attacking Menai?' whilst poor Fuglybloke, two thousand points the poorer for the flee, was asking me to tell Foz and Cloud that he was, in fact, trying to defend Menai.

Clutterbox was routed and fled, whilst Menai gently and safely disappeared, and we all headed for the tea room. Once all was explained, Foz did no more than immediately bring in his PK persona Stonemason and hugged Fuglybloke up to sorcerer again. I thanked and kissed all three of my heroes and realised that even within the murky depths of a PKer's heart, there is often a gallant, selfless and heroic spark.

I will no longer rush to judgement when it comes to PK'ers. By the way.. Clutterbox was killed by Foz soon after.. a fitting end to a dramatic set. As someone once said, "Ain't MUD just wonderful!"

Llysfaen